Silent Wind
by Blazeraptor54
Summary: A young blonde teen was sent across the ground from a fist made of sand, standing in front of him was equally young redhead. "Why don't you just give up, Uzumaki!" He screamed as the boy spat up blood, and slowly got up. Wiping the blood from his chin, the blonde took his thumb, and pointed it at his heart. Then, to the redhead's growing irritation, pointing the same hand at him.
1. Chapter 1

We take many things granted to us with a selfish, and shelled world of privilege. The many things that many people criticize of the rich, and of the poor are the many things that are mere material in nature. However, the true underprivileged lay within the deaf, the mute, and the blind.

For you may be poor, a beggar on the streets, but you are able to see.  
You may be rich, and wealthy, but cannot hear anyone to make a difference.  
You may be a soldier, with no voice, how can you be heard?

The many things we took for entitlement, and say is the norm, may never be what someone will experience. However, in the realm of the mute lay a special hell for those inflicted.

For, they are drowning and surrounded by people, but unable to scream. When there is no way to rage against the darkness, how does one ever truly see the light?

* * *

A young blonde haired child was laying on the floor, he had some colored pencils laid out next to him. He was currently drawing a picture consisting of three stick figures, and a small poorly drawn house. The blonde was scratching on his hair when a knock on his door broke his concentration.

He got up, his large T-shirt he had been loaned from friend was hanging loosely off him, and flopped about as he walked towards the door. Unlocking the door, he smiled as he saw a woman dressed in all white at the door.

"Hello there Mr. Naruto, are you doing better today?" The Woman In White inquired as sweetly as any woman could.

Instead of answering vocally, the blonde boy named Naruto simply nodded his head three times. The woman smiled, and walked into his room while he stood beside the door. She took a look at the mess on the floor, and frowned a little bit at the picture. Not in a condescending way, but in a way befitting sympathy.

"I see you've been drawing again, it's a pretty little picture." The woman said as she picked it up gently, and sat on his bed.

She watches the blonde smile a little bit more, but he seemed a little reserved at his praise, which the woman picked up on easily. She motioned with her hand for him to walk towards her, which he did quickly, and sat on the bed next to her.

"Do you want to tell me who they are?" The woman asked as she looked at the stick figure drawing.

The blonde struggled as he thought of a way to communicate, but clapped both his hands together, and smiled. The woman was confused at first, until she caught on, and smiled ever so sweetly at the boy.

"Family, that's so precious." She commented as she sat the drawing on the desk next to his bed.

The blonde looked at the woman, before he started to frown a little bit. He seemed to clutch himself with his arms, before trying to smile once more but it was fleeting at best.

"Naruto, do you want to learn how to write?" The blonde gave her a small smile, and nodded.

"Okay then, well, instead of going to playground tomorrow just come down to my office in the mornings, and afternoons. I know you're not really old enough for our classes here, but you can get a head start if you'd like." The blonde perked up a little more, and gave the woman a toothy smile.

Naruto nodded his head a little bit, before trying say something, but most of it just coming out a gurgled wording at best. Much like someone with a very bad case of strap throat, and the woman slightly recoiled at the sound he was making.

"Were you just trying to yell?" The blonde nodded, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Naruto silently nodded as he looked at himself kick his feet, and looked at the woman smiling before out two fingers. The woman clutched the two fingers in her hand, and shook them. A silent understanding was formed, and Naruto smiled as she got up.

"Goodnight Naruto." Naruto brightly smiled as she left the room, and waived at her.

The Woman in White was walking the hallway when she came face to face with the matron of the orphanage, and bowed to her with respect. The matron looked at her, and sighed.

"Nyodai, what an unexpected presence, shouldn't you be resting for tomorrows' class?" The Headmistress inquired as she looked at the younger woman with scathing eyes.

"Sorry madam, one of the boys upon this ward had trouble sleeping. I merely comforted, and now am on my way back to my chambers." She hastily said as she tried to walk away from The Headmistress.

The Headmistress's eyes, graying with old age, though once holding a dark brown color glared at the woman. She walked down the hallway, and noticed a recent smudging on the wooden floors in the orphanage, and stood at the door that the smudging had been near the room.

The old woman swath a stray white hair from her face, before pulling out the clipboard she carried with her.

 _"_ _Room two dash eight, room two dash eight, ah ha there it is. Uzumaki Naruto."_ She tapped the name on the clipboard, before scrutinizing the thought of the name. _"_ _She continues to go against orders, the boy is without hope, he can't communicate his feelings he'll never find a home, a lost cause."_

The old woman chuckled a little bit, before looking at the corridor and began to walk away.

Naruto wasn't asleep, but once again drawing, this time drawing another set of stick figures. One looked like him, in the back of a large room, with poorly drawn tables. Another was The Woman In white, standing in the front of the room.

The blonde hid his creation under the bed, where he kept many things, including a toy shuriken that he had snuck into the building during a village outing. The blonde also had a small children's book, which he picked up and sat on his bed.

 _"_ _Learning to Pronounce Without the Ouch."_ Naruto read in his head, and opened the book.

There was a picture of an apple, and he smiled as he read the word. He never tried pronouncing it, nor did he make the effort, even at three he knew better. However, inside of his head he had a voice, and would often practice for the sake of learning to spell.

He wasn't great, couldn't complete a sentence to save his life, but he wasn't exactly taught either. At least, not until just an hour ago, and his excited stupor he couldn't find it in himself to sleep. He was hyper, giddy even, with the joy that he'd be able to experience. Earlier than many of his current peers to boot, and this made him all the more resistant to sleep.

The blonde stayed up for a couple more hours, and finally…sleep took hold of him.

* * *

"Naruto…" A woman spoke with annoyance as she walked towards his room.

"Naruto!" She said louder as she got nearer to his room, and opened his door.

A spiky haired blonde was busy writing in his journal as he had some music playing from a small music box, causing the woman that had yelled at him to go from annoyance to relief. The blonde finally turned around, and smiled. Waiving at her, and motioning for her to come over to the small desk he had been writing the journal on.

The woman came over, and noticed the journal was full of newer words that she had been teaching Naruto for the last month. She patted his shoulder, making him smile even more.

"Very good Naruto, but c'mon, you're gonna be late. Didn't Sister Nyodai teach you to be on time hmm?" The woman instructed with her finger in the air.

The blonde chuckled, and shrugged his shoulders. He got up from his seat, and walked over to his small bed. He reached under, grabbing a red and orange shirt. The woman watched as he wrote on piece of paper.

 _"_ _Red, or Orange, Sister Nyodai?"_

"Orange, it brings a more pleasant sense to the eyes." Nyodai said startling the other woman in the room.

"Oh, how did he know you were coming?" The other woman inquired playfully, before watching Naruto playfully rub the back of his head.

"Naruto has good hearing, don't you?" The blonde nodded, imitating dog ears on his head with his hands, accidentally dropping the shirts on the floor.

"Gah, be careful, the floor is dirty ya know." The other woman scolded Naruto, she quickly picked up the shirts.

"Oh come now Mirai, Naruto is just being playfully. Hey Naruto, show her a trick why don't ya?" Nyodai suggested as she winked at the boy.

The blonde nodded, and bent over. He placed both of his hands on the ground, and held himself up as he slowly pulled his lower body into the air. The other nun was impressed, but watched as the three-year-old pulled one arm behind him.

"Oh, that's so cool, so much balance for little one. Like a little Fo" Nyodai shot Mirai a glare before she could finish the statement.

"You mean like a frog, right?" Nyodai interjected after she shut Mirai up with her glare.

"Yes madam, like a frog." Mirai answered with a sigh, before looking at Naruto. "Well c'mon, don't tally here any longer, you must be with the other children."

Naruto was wearing an orange shirt as he came outside the massive orphanage, behind him several more children lined up as they came out. A group of people stood in the middle of the courtyard to inspect the children.

"Okay children, line up!" The Headmistress yelled as the inspectors came by.

Naruto watched as they looked at him, and then slowly looked at the other children. Walking down the line they came to the end, and slowly the shoulder of their chosen child. Many of the children were excited, and quickly exited the line.

They were being picked out by noble families, which were the cause of the celebration, and the tight inspections.

Then came the actual parents, that were middle class, and lower class respectively. Naruto watched as more, and more children got picked. He smiled big however, when a man with brown hair, and brown eyes wearing shirt that was red and brown, and with brown trousers came walking over to him.

"Hi there little guy, what your name?" Naruto went to grab a piece of paper in his pocket, along with a pencil.

The man looked at him for a moment, before he saw the boy jot down his name rather quickly. He held it up, and smiled brighter. Proud of both being looked at, and his ability to write his name. The man took one look at the name, and looked at the boy with a sad smile. Something that caused Naruto to frown a little, before watching the man go into a deep thought.

"Hello, hello, kind sir." The Headmistress came walking over towards them. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but are you interested in Naruto here?"

"Yes, isn't he shy or something?" The man inquired.

"Oh no, no, the boy is mute. Unable to speak, he's not much of troublemaker either." The Headmistress said waiving her hand. "But, he does have a large appetite for a three-year-old."

"Hmm, well, I can understand that. He's a growing lad, but madam may I speak to you really quick?" The woman nodded, and motioned for the man to follow.

Naruto smiled brightly once more, and got a little giddy. Nyodai watched him from the window, a sad but proud smile laced her lips. It would seem the boy she reared for three years was finally gonna be passed along to someone else, but then she saw The Headmistress talking to the man.

Nyodai watched as The Headmistress walked back over to Naruto, shaking her head. The young blonde's smile came crashing down.

* * *

 _"_ _But, why didn't anyone want me?"_ Naruto ponder inside of his head, a couple of hours had passed since he had been lined up with the other children.

Naruto had tear stains down his cheeks, and he just sighed as he went back to his desk.

 _"_ _I can write, I have some tricks…isn't that what mommies and daddies like in children?"_ Naruto continued to ponder, as he just sat at his desk.

 _"_ _It's not fair."_


	2. Chapter 2

Spring brings with it new life, and the blossoming of flowers.

Springtime, and Autumn, both are Naruto's favorite seasons. He didn't hate Winter, or Summer, but neither did have a special love for the hot and cold.

Out in a field several children were playing in the open warmth of the sun. Not among them, Naruto, who was standing by a tree watching as children talked to each other, and ran around. He stood there, feeling the tree he had taken some shelter under.

He loved the smell of nature, and often it wasn't he was shy, he just liked the open fields better than being around people. He always took particular care to make sure he wasn't too far away from everyone, but not always within sight either.

Naruto walked behind the tree, and slid himself down the bark, and rested against it. He closed his eyes, and let the sound filter through his ears, and only could imagine what was out in the field in front of him.

He imagined bugs, mostly crickets, scampering about in the brush. The long bugs, known as stick bugs, hanging on the tree above him. The blonde probably even thought of a few wild dogs, or maybe even a ferret running about in the field somewhere.

His imagination didn't stop there, he imagined himself being able to run with them, speak to them. His eyes fluttered as he imagined them. How they would act around him, and even what it would be like to be one of them.

His hands gripped the grass beneath him, and he opened his eyes he saw the fields once more. Himself, still sitting under the tree. Something was a little off however, the wind, it had changed. Once blowing northwards, now it blew to the east.

Spring air, as he commonly knew it, was like warm delightful breeze. The breeze had changed, he felt it subtly, it had become cold like ice. The tree wasn't the only shade in the field now, hundreds of shades were formed from the clouds above.

The roaring of thunder soon followed, making Naruto shake. He quickly got up, and watched as the clouds gathered more, and more. Rain soon pelted the field, making some of the children holler out in both excitement, and anguish at being wet.

The blonde quickly jogged back to the others, his balance keeping himself from tripping over any small holes in the field.

"Okay children, that's enough for today, everyone come along now!" Nyodai politely yelled, and watched as Naruto was still running from the tree he had been sitting.

 _"_ _Only now do you gather with other children, Naruto, do you hate them?"_ She pondered.

The blonde finally made it back to the front gates to the orphanage, and he saw the clouds began another chorus of thunder, and lightning.

* * *

Naruto was currently sitting down at a large dinner table, among the table was various other children who were excited about dinner for tonight. It was rumored that a local restaurant from The Village was going to be making food,

The young blonde was sitting next to a girl who wore a plain tan yellow trousers and a brown T-shirt, along with two other boys wearing the same kind of clothing with different coloring. One boy was wearing a red trouser, with a red shirt. Another, boy, with unkempt hair, was wearing a blue trouser with a gray shirt.

"Yuki, what do you think The Headmistress got us for The Summer Solstice?" The girl inquired to the unkempt haired boy sitting across from her.

"Who cares, I don't really see the point of caring what we get…it'll probably be something that'll make us full." Yuki replied as he just sighed, and looked at his empty bowl.

"You say it as if you don't really care if they feed us at all." The other boy commented, as he crossed his arms.

"Oh trust me, I do care, but don't get your hopes up. After all, let's look at it this way…we're getting food. Be happy with that Lee, besides you waste your time studying for The Academy entrance exams anyway, they only take people that can _pay_ the fee." Yuki brutally explained his reasoning.

"I study hard for a future, with or without family, and you should do the same!" Lee argued as he slammed his right fist into his open left palm.

"Wonder what this blonde kid thinks, eh, well?" Yuki looked at Naruto, who looked around before pointing at himself.

"No, the other blonde in this room." Yuki snidely commented. "Well?"

"Yuki, that blonde kid…um, he can't…well." The girl stammered, she looked towards the blonde who just sighed.

"Well what, come on, he's more than capable for answering for himself. How old could he be, one?" Yuki kept commenting, failing to see the blonde ball his fist up.

"Tenten, just leave it, Yuki can't see past his own pity anyway." Lee commented as he went back to reading a book in his lap.

"But, Lee, that kid can't talk." Tenten finally stated, making Yuki snicker.

"Oh, dang, that sucks. So, um, how old are you kid?" Yuki inquired from the blonde.

Naruto held up three fingers, and smiled, hoping for a good conversation even if it was limited.

"Oh, that's great, I'm six. Let me tell ya, you're finished." Yuki suddenly snidely remarked.

"Yuki!" Tenten exclaimed in anger.

"No, no, little guy has to hear it. You see blondie, the simple fact is no one wants a broken kid…let alone an older kid. They want little ones, like one year olds…two year olds, and the ones that get picked are like dogs chose in a kennel in this place." Yuki explained. "And, you not being able to utter a word…that's the biggest handicap I ever sa-ahh!"

Naruto had enough, his anger took over, and with one violent swing from his right arm he sent his right fist as hard as he could into Yuki's nose. The older kid fell out his chair, while still sat in his with his arm outstretched, tears were slowly leaking from his eyes. His lips quivered, as if he was trying to sobbingly speak, but couldn't.

"Naruto!" The Headmistress shouted as she walked over to him. "Get out of the dining room, go to your room this instant!"

The blonde shakenly brought his arm back to his side, and just slowly got out of his seat. Tears spilled out of his eyes, and he slowly began to walk away from the table. The Headmistress looked at Yuki, who was using the sleeve of his shirt to keep blood from dripping on the floor.

* * *

Naruto got into his room, and slammed the door shut, and just looked at himself in a small mirror that laid on the desk.

 _"_ _I-is he really right, am I broken child?"_ Naruto inquired about himself as he looked at his own features in the mirror.

"Ahhh." Naruto tried to speak.

"Raaaaaahhhh." Naruto tried to once more, but found his voice way to raspy and hard to form a single word with.

The blonde just sat there, before his fists balled up, and he tried once more.

"Ahhhhh." Naruto began to get angry again. "Ahhhh!"

 _"_ _I am not broken!"_ Naruto yelled inside of his head, before punching his mirror, sending the small trinket against the wall and falling behind the desk.

He began to slam his hands against the table, sobbing as he continued to slowly, and futilely trying to speak.

 _"_ _I'm not broken, I'm not broken!"_ Naruto continued to speak into his mind as he slammed his hands once more into the desk.

Finally, he just sighed, tears running down his face. He got up from the desk, and looked at his hands. There were pieces of glass, very small pieces, stuck in his index finger and thumb. Biting his lip, and holding back any sobs, he slowly pulled it out.

When he pulled the glass out he just laid it on the desk, and just looked at his hand. The wound, like any other wound he had, slowly hissed as it began to heal. He wondered if Yuki was healing from his decked face at the moment, making Naruto for one instant forget about his own suffering.

Did he find pleasure in the fact he punched Yuki, no, but did he feel comfortable with it?

Naruto slowly got up from his desk, and slowly towards his bed. He took off the top covers, and began to crawl into it when a knock was heard at the door.

"Naruto…it's me, Nyodai. You okay, can you unlock the door please?" Naruto's eyes darted open, and he quickly walked over to the door.

He quickly unlatched it, and opened it. He saw Nyodai standing there, a concerned look stretch over her face.

"Naruto, are you okay?" She inquired as she stepped into the room.

The blonde merely just shrugged, and just shuffled his way back towards his bed. His stomach was slightly growling, as he had left the dining room without grabbing anything to eat. It didn't go unnoticed by Nyodai, and she sighed a little.

"What happened Naruto, I heard you got into a fight, is that true?" Naruto looked at her, and frowned a little bit, expecting more punishment.

 _"_ _I didn't mean too, I…I don't know what happened."_ Naruto wanted to say, but he just looked at Nyodai.

"Okay, Naruto, I know you…what's wrong?" Nyodai asked as she noticed Naruto had some tears well up into his eyes.

He got up from the bed, slowly walking to towards his desk, and Nyodai watched as he bent down to grab something. She almost gasped at the sight of the mirror she had given him, completely shattered. Naruto shook a little as he made his way back besides Nyodai, before watching some tears leave his eyes.

"Did you…break that Naruto?" Nyodai inquired, receiving a nod from Naruto.

She watched as the boy slowly pointed at the mirror, then back to himself. She noticed the look in his eyes, it was one of questioning, and the second time he did the motion she almost cried herself.

 _"_ _Is he asking me if he's broken, just like the mirror?"_ Nyodai questioned herself, and looked as Naruto shook with the mirror in his hand.

"Naruto…are you asking me, seriously asking me, that you are broken?" The blonde bit his lip, and nodded.

Naruto nodded, and Nyodai looked at him. This had been a boy she had personally watched take his first little steps he had ever taken. A boy once it was known he'd never be able to speak, thanks to both internal and outside factors, she shed tears for.

She knew her answer to the question, and it was gut wrenching.

"Yes…" Nyodai answered, watched the horror creep onto Naruto's face.

Naruto closed his eyes, sobbing silently as he crashed into Nyodai's shoulder. She held the boy close, and slowly rocked him back and forth. She rubbed his hair, clutching him like a mother would. She felt him choking on some of the sobs.

"Shh…shh…Naruto, shhh." She calmed the young blonde. "It's going to be okay, I promise."

Nyodai kept ahold of Naruto, and slowly let her grip go when he slowly stopped crying.

* * *

An hour had gone by, and Nyodai helped Naruto picked up pieces of the broken mirror, and she smiled at him. The blonde, though heartbroken, found some strength to smile back at her.

"Naruto, what I said earlier. Being broken isn't always a bad thing." Naruto snapped his head towards her.

"Broken can mean many things Naruto, a broken trust, a broken toy, a broken glass, even a mirror. However, Naruto what is broken, can always be fixed or made into something else." Nyodai explained. "So when I said yes, I didn't mean to hurt you, but you are broken…but I want to fix you."

Naruto looked at her, his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, but nonetheless he just smiled. She noticed the toothy grin, one he always gave when he was truly happy, and she patted his ruffled his hair a little.

"Come along now, let's get this cleaned up, and I'll take you down to get something to eat myself. In fact, I think you may like what we got tonight." Nyodai told Naruto as she crossed her arms a little bit.

Naruto gasped a little bit in excitement, and began to hurry up more, soon finishing up the glass cleanup.

* * *

Naruto was eating some noodles out of a bowl, he and Nyodai had walked out of the dining room. Most of the children were outside, save Yuki who had got put into his room as well. Apparently some of the other kids Naruto had sat by told on him.

The blonde made a mental note to find some way of saying thank you, but right now he was watching Nyodai eat her own bowl.

"Good?" Naruto nodded at her question. "Splendid."

"It's called Ramen, it was made by a man name Teuichi and his daughter Ayame. They own a small shop in The Village, if you would like next week we could visit." Nyodai watched as Naruto nodded, and smiled as he slurped down some noodles.

"Good, hey Naruto, don't you know your name is actually a topping for Ramen?" Nyodai said, and watched as Naruto's face lit up.

She plucked a piece of naruto out of her ramen, and held it up for Naruto to see. The small white sponge of food had a red swirl mark inside of it, and Naruto looked down at his bowl. Noticing some of the same toppings in his noodles.

"So, Naruto, meet naruto." Nyodai said as she held the topping closer to Naruto, who just began to chuckle.

In his wholehearted laughter Naruto had forgotten what had happened earlier that day, and just became enthralled in Nyodai's jokes she would later make as the pair slowly retreated back into The Orphanage. However, neither noticed The Headmistress.

Her glare solely focused on Nyodai.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where'd he go?" Nyodai worriedly inquired as she quickly wondered throughout the village.

She was wearing her typical nunnery clothing, which weight her down a little, and she swore to herself she would yell at Naruto for leaving her behind. Typical of the five-year-old blonde, two birthday outings, and he decided to act up on the second one.

Usually, Nyodai figured, the younger you were the more you acted up.

 _"_ _Damn…he's not here."_ She cursed in her mind as she entered into a carnival area. _"_ _If I can't find him soon I'll have to explain myself, and then that'll lead to another argument!"_

Nyodai exited the carnival area, and finally caught a glimpse of blonde hair. She whipped around, only a seeing a girl walking with her equally blonde father. Groaning, she looked around, before seeing a child blur past her with a large plushy of a frog.

She noticed the child had spiky blonde hair, and immediately gave chase. "Naruto, get back here this instant!"

The blonde turned around, chuckling, and sticking his tongue out. He quickly bopped, and weaved through the crowd. Nyodai cursed his natural talents, and apparently his flexibility and dexterity only matured with his age.

The nun had to admit, she was outclassed in speed, the blonde was and always has been faster than her for the last two years. She not only loathed Lee, but regretted the day she let the two boys play together in the yard.

Three months later, Lee got adopted out, and Naruto had taken up running as a hobby. She thought about it, entering him in races could actually win The Orphanage big money. Not like the blonde would mind, he loved to race, and she noticed the way he acted when he wanted to let loose.

Unfortunately, this was one of those times.

"Naruto!" Nyodai shouted as she tried to bop, and weave out of the crowd as well. "Come on, please, we got to head back soon!"

The blonde turned back around, and laughing, not even breathing hard for all the running Nyodai knew he did both in and out of sight. She sighed, and finally jogged over to the blonde. It took almost everything in her peaceful, and loving nature, not thwack the knucklehead.

"About time…whew, okay Naruto time to go home." The blonde smiled, but strangely presented the frog to her. "For me?"

The blonde just gave an immediate nod, and smiled. The large plushy was that of a red frog, and it had green eyes instead of the normal looking yellow eyed plushy that had been in the game stalls around the carnival. Nyodai gently grabbed it, and smiled.

"Thank you little brother." Nyodai spoke softly, before tucking it under her arm.

She then noticed the blonde giving her the biggest eyes he could, before clapping his hands together, and spreading them wide afterwards. The woman rolled her eyes, and just sighed. "Fireworks?"

The blonde gave her a thumbs up, and smiled.

"Naruto…you know we can't." The blonde only made the eyes look more sadden. "Naruto…okay, okay fine. You win we'll see the fireworks."

Naruto pumped his fists backwards, and smiled as he took his big sisters hands. A moniker, and title Nyodai never minded but loved to have. She lightly swung her hand back and forth with Naruto. Chuckling a little bit as they walked, Naruto who was walking with pace, looked up at the sky.

 _"_ _The stars are pretty tonight…mama, papa, are you up there?"_ The blonde inquired, lightly lowered his gaze to the ground.

Two years, and sixteen failed adoptions later, it would look like Yuki would have become right. However, Naruto didn't want to just give in, and he made his vow to never stop trying. Part of the reason he took up the running, and little known to Nyodai, had taken up a little bit of sneaking.

It started with him sneaking out of his room at night, and led all the way to him entering the backyard of The Orphanage, then it became a game of hide and seek with Nyodai. The woman used to fret every time he was sneaking, but she found peace with it.

"Naruto, quick question, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Nyodai inquired as they walked towards where the fireworks where getting ready to be launched.

The blonde smiled, and pointed at some people standing on the roof, Nyodai gave him a frown but soon smiled once more. "What else would you want to be; you do have some musical talent?"

Naruto scratched his chin, before smiling and clapping his hands together shaking his shoulders a little bit. Nyodai laughed a little bit at the blonde's little weird dance, and snorted slightly as he walked a little lower with each step.

"Okay, okay, you do have some dance talent as well…smarty pants." Nyodai said as she shrugged. "Though, if you found a way to make two of yourselves then you would be able to use that qin you got to dance with."

Naruto silently laughed, as he pointed at her, and waived his little finger at her.

"Oh come on, grow some thicker skin." Nyodai winked as she spoke. "Oh look!"

Naruto snapped his head as he felt his ears ring from an explosion in the sky. The explosion lit the sky up with bright colors, and Naruto just gasped in amazement. He smelt the smoke coming off the fireworks as they went up.

Shells, fountains, and even the bottle rockets that were being lit here and there.

The boy just couldn't help himself, he stared in wonder, his first fireworks show. The blonde just reached out to one of the fireworks, which exploded into a scattered replica of The Fourth Hokage. After that firework, the last few remaining ones went off, and then Naruto watched as a man with a balding hairline, wearing rather expensive robes walked on top of a podium.

"Today, we pay homage, to a grand Hokage who lost his life five years ago. He lost his life protecting each elder, each man and woman, and every infant and child that is here in attendance today. His efforts, tallied with the dozens of Shinobi. Tonight, we've enlisted the craftsmen from The Small Town of Ona." The man in the robes slowly stepped off the podium, allowing a much younger man in purple robes to take the stand.

"As many of you know, Ona, is a town of craftsmen. We owe our livelihood to Konoha, but until now, we've never had the chance to properly give respects to a fallen hero. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, a man of great talents in both Shinobi and civilian life." The purpled robed man clapped his hands, and many people wearing simple trousers and armless shirts came out from behind the podium.

Each of the man, and women in the group held a lantern.

"We will now bow our heads in respect, as Abbot Ikumi will recite The Prayer of Samantabahdra." The elder man in expensive robes said loudly as a much elder man walked past him.

The older man wore a yellow robe, it was simple in its design, and he was bald with a heavily wrinkled face. Eyes milked over from blindness of old age, and Naruto couldn't help but feel a very positive aura around him.

Nyodai, having forgotten the time, just watched as The Abbot took the podium.

Licking his lips, the elderly Abbot spoke.

"I bow down to the youthful Arya Manjushri. You lions among humans, gone to freedom in the present, past and future in the worlds of ten directions, to all of you, with body, speech and sincere mind I bow down. With the energy of aspiration for the bodhisattva way, with a sense of deep respect, and with as many bodies as atoms of the world, to all you Buddhas visualized as real, I bow down. On every atom are Buddhas numberless as atoms, each amidst a host of bodhisattvas, and I am confident the sphere of all phenomenaIs entirely filled with Buddhas in this way. With infinite oceans of praise for you, and oceans of sound from the aspects of my voice, I sing the breathtaking excellence of Buddhas, and celebrate all of you Gone to Bliss. Beautiful flowers and regal garlands Sweet music, scented oils and parasols, Sparkling lights and sublime incense, I offer to you Victorious Ones. Fine dress and fragrant perfumes, Sandalwood powder heaped high as Mount Meru, all wondrous offerings in spectacular array, I offer to you Victorious Ones. With transcendent offerings peerless and vast, with profound admiration for all the Buddhas, with strength of conviction in the bodhisattva way, I offer and bow down to all Victorious Ones." The Abbot finished with a solemn tone.

"Buddha be praised." The Abbot finished.

"Buddha be praised!" The villagers around the area said in unison, including Nyodai.

* * *

Naruto, and Nyodai were being escorted back towards The Orphanage by a Shinobi who had been off duty. The Shinobi in question, was in reality, a Kunoichi. She had a pineapple like hairstyle, which was dull violet in color. Along with a pair of brown chocolate eyes.

Nyodai often talked to her while on the trail, comparing her kindness, while trying to hand the woman money. She finally agreed to allow Nyodai to buy her something called Dango, though Naruto didn't really know what that was.

After they finally made it towards the gate's entrances, the dull violet haired woman looked down at Naruto. "Eh, hey there squirt, ya alright?"

"Oh, sorry, miss. This is Naruto, he can't talk." Anko eyes slightly widened for a moment.

"Damn, that's sad." Anko spoke with a sigh. "But, I hope you all have a good night. Got to get back to my post, otherwise my old monkey of a boss will flip out." Anko chimed in, before jumping into the trees, while Naruto all the while watched her.

"Hmm, Naruto, are you doing okay?" Nyodai questioned as she tugged the boy's shirt.

The blonde nodded his head, and smiled at the dark trees above them. _"_ _I can't wait to do that."_

* * *

"Transfer?" Nyodai repeated while questioning The Headmistress.

"Nyodai, out of all the nuns here, you are most qualified. You have some Taijutsu training to boot, and some Genjutsu. These children require both your guidance and nurturing, and I find you the best to fill the role." The Headmistress said.

"Is this because of October?" Nyodai accused.

"No, not because of October. Now, look here, I don't know what hope you see in the boy. However, Nyodai, he's mute. No matter what talent, no matter what skill, the boy isn't going to be capable of living a normal life. Even if he amounts to anything." The Headmistress spoke with some venom laced in her voice.

"First off, the _boy_ has a name, it's Naruto. Second off, you know nothing because you don't bother with him to start with? Little care from the nuns, and I'm the only one that has gave him compassion since he walked. You condemn for his inability to speak, but you have yet to ever truly stand around him and watch. Uzumaki Naruto is going to greatness, even if you don't think so." Nyodai shot back. "Do you hate for the demon as well?"

"Nyodai, let's give a run down here. He sneaks out at night, he doesn't hang around other children, he can't talk, he has a few skills, I'll not deny them. He can play the qin you have given as if he was born with it, but let's get down to the nit and gritty." The Headmistress explained. "He's a Jinchuuriki, a being used to contain a demon…do you ever think if he was able to speak he'd still have a normal life?"

"No, but there was once an old saying. Don't pray for an easy life, pray for the power to persevere over a hard one. Naruto's life has been hard, lax a little by myself, but all around he has seen time and time again where he watched other children walk off with a family, while he stayed there. His stopped crying, because I think he has accepted the reality, but that doesn't make him hopeless." Nyodai argued. "I refuse the station."

"You cannot, I have a seal already placed, you must go. There are children in Naminokuni that need your guidance, they are facing trying times. There are various other nuns, and a couple of monks from both the Fire and Water temples heading there as well. Children that may never have a chance at families due to civil strife." The Headmistress explained. "You will leave after Rinne, and will bid Uzumaki farewell."

"You are despicable, so who will take care of him, you? You'd rather have him out, than ever in your halls." Nyodai stated as she slams her hand on The Headmistress's desk.

"Which is why I've come to an agreement with someone, Lord Hokage, please come in." The Headmistress beckoned, and the door slowly creaked open.

"Lord Hokage." Nyodai bowed, before being motioned to rise.

"Do not bow, you are within your right to be angry at The Headmistress. The woman is vile, but the woman speaks the truth. Uzumaki Naruto will never have a family, the villagers have known for years who is…but just followed my creed and kept silent about it. I myself am saddened by the situation, but I assure Naruto's life will not be sorrowful in respects to where he'll be going." The Hokage explained while smiling.

"Lord Hokage has gotten Naruto an apartment within the city, it will be your job to teach him basic cooking skills, and other core educational skills. You have a month and three weeks till Rinne. Lord Hokage, has also planned for Naruto attend The Shinobi Academy. The child is to go next year, due to his various _talents._ " The Headmistress told Nyodai who was starting to breath heavily. "Nyodai?"

"No, no, no. Lord Hokage, please listen to me, Naruto's just a child he can't live on his own properly. Please, please overwrite Headmistress, and please let me take care of Naruto." Nyodai begged. "He's been with me since his first steps, I've been his mother, his sister…it'll break his heart."

"Nyodai, it's not that I want to hurt Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki is very important to the village, I wanted him to have basic human emotions when he was little. You done a great job at that, and you are indeed the mother he'll never have…but Nyodai I assure you Naruto will be fine." The Hokage said as he smiled, and held out his hand.

"I swear on my own life." He added.

Nyodai didn't know what to do, all she could was feel her heart race. She slowly, shaking tried to raise her hand, but promptly collapsed from the stress.

Naruto watched as Nyodai slowly loaded her things onto a carriage, two other nuns accompanied her. The blonde stood out in the cold wet snow, and looked at her. He had been up crying all night, but he knew there was nothing he could do to stop this.

He also knew in spring; he'd be going to live somewhere. Nyodai finished loading her stuff, and looked back at Naruto. She walked over towards him, and knelt down on both knees in front of the little boy to sit eyelevel with him.

She straightened his little jacket, and smiled at him. Fresh tears adorned her eyes as she looked at the spiky blonde hair boy, and into his deep blue eyes. "Naruto."

The boy sniveled a little bit.

"Remember what I said about being broken, the pieces that are laid out can always be repurposed. I will remember you little brother, and I will leave you this." Nyodai reached behind her neck, and pulled off her necklace. "This was giving to me by my mother and father. You're the closing thing I had to a son."

Naruto started to choke back sobs as she slowly placed the necklace around his neck. "Be a good boy Naruto, if by chance we meet again you better be a good young man. Sister Nyodai wouldn't want to make you do noodle man'chu as a young man right?"

Naruto shook his head; the sobs slowly being relieved into chuckles. Nyodai smiled at him, before pressing her lips against his forehead, the blonde stopped everything altogether and blushed a deep crimson as he watched Nyodai rub the kiss area with her thumb.

"Now, Naruto, go be a good boy. I will, and always remember you." Nyodai said getting up, and walking towards the carriage.

Naruto watched with new tears flowing out of his eyes as the carriage horses cried out, and began to move. Naruto stood there for a moment, and began to take off running towards the carriage. A nun had come besides him, and clutched him.

"Maaaa." Naruto weakly called out, his hand outstretched towards carriage.


	4. Chapter 4

_"_ _Spring meadow, give rise to the morning swallows. Spring storms, please be without scorn. Spring rain, make sure the tree isn't slain."_ Naruto wrote in his journal as he scratched his chin, and looked at his bed inside of his apartment.

His hair had grown a little, coming past his ears, and his blue eyes shown with a dulled sense of life. He slowly got out of a kitchen chair made for an adult. Stretching, he walked over to cupboard, and pulled out a wooden cup.

The blonde looked at it, before sighing, and walking over to the sink. Grabbing a chair, he made sure he could reach faucet, and held the cup under. As soon as it was full, the blonde threw his head back with the cup near his lips, and chugged.

He would do this two more times, before filling refreshed, another bad night of sleep.

The blonde got off the chair, and walked over to the fridge, and opened it to see a bunch of lunch meat, and sandwich bread. He got out some of the bread, and meat and closed the fridge quickly. He had of the trick to persevering bread, and he didn't really want to spoil any of his ration money he had gotten.

He looked at the meat he had gotten out, chicken, his second favorite.

Quickly he made himself the sandwiches, and threw the lunch the meat back in the fridge. Walking over to a clock he looked at the hands. _"_ _Ten o'clock."_

The blonde had two hours before he had to be at The Academy for the entrance ceremony. He sighed as he walked over to his room, and opened up his closet. There he found an assortment of brightly colored T-shirts, mostly blue and orange. He also had some sweatpants, instead of the trousers he used to wear.

They were mostly red, with a few blue and black mixed in.

The blonde got out a pair of black sweatpants, and a blue shirt. Quickly putting them on, he looked at himself as he walked towards his bathroom. He opened the door, flipping on the light, and saw himself in the mirror. His long blonde unkempt hair, and his eyes slightly red from the poor night of sleep.

Sighing, he closed his eyes.

 _"_ _You're a handsome young man, Naruto."_

The blonde's eyes snapped opened, and looked around. He didn't see her there, Nyodai, but he still felt like he could feel her presence. A small tear trailed down his cheek, one he quickly brushed off. The blonde walked towards the kitchen, packing up the sandwiches, and grabbed his boots.

As he was lacing the boots up, he looked up at the table, and saw his qin laying on it. He places every now, and then, since he was going to be out of the house he figured he could earn a few extra ryo. Walking over to it, he put the qin around him via a strap on the back.

* * *

 _"_ _Another Naruto, another."_

* * *

The blonde, was playing his fourth birthday gift, and playing it rather well. "Another Naruto, another."

Nyodai, and a few other nuns were in his room as strummed his fingers along his qin. The blonde had his eyes closed as he pecked at the strings, and smiled as he finished the randomized song he had come up with on the spot.

"Oi, that was a great song, what do you call it?" A nun inquired jokingly inquired.

The young blonde put his hands together, and flapped them around, imitating a butterfly.

"Oh, that's adorable." Nyodai said as she patted the blonde's head. "But, young man, it's time for bed."

Naruto frowned a little, but smiled as he put the qin under his bed.

"Alright ladies." Nyodai said. "I'm putting are artist for tonight to bed. Please, vacate the premises, shows over."

* * *

 _"Show's over, goodnight."_

* * *

The blonde slowly pulled his hand towards the door, and smiled. _"_ _Thank you mom."_

The blonde opened the door, and quickly stepped up. He walked towards the boy slowly walked towards the edge of his balcony, and saw the village below. His apartment wasn't in some rich portion of the village, nor was it in the lower class areas.

He was near The Artisan's Quarter.

The Artisan's Quarter was a place of unique trade, and goods. Many could find specialist craftsmen and craftswomen, each dealing with wooden objects to rather expensive jewelry. The Quarter was dived into three rowed streets, which all ran interconnected to a single large road that was connect to a bridge near The Southern Gate. With the streets being separated on further by buildings.

Various hotels, inns, workshops, some naughty places Naruto knew he wasn't allowed near. The blonde backed away from the balcony, and began walking towards the steps leading down to the road. Upon getting down from the stairs, the boy grabbed a small wooden bowl that had been discarded.

He looked at it, and spat into it before rubbing any dirty out with his thumb which he then proceeded wipe on his lower pants leg. He had half expected to get a little dust on his clothing anyway, but he shrugged it off as he put his hands behind his head and began to walk.

The blonde quickly moved to the side to avoid a couple of people running, and took in the sight before him. He rarely went out of his house, but he was always taken aback by the civilized beauty of Konoha. He got out a rather crudely drawn map, and looked at it.

 _"_ _Okay, The Academy should be all the way down the main road, and near The Hokage Mansion."_ Naruto thought to himself as he looked at the map, and smirked.

He looked up at the sun, and noted where it was, making him sigh in relief. He hadn't been sightseeing too long, and he had about an hour to make it to the ceremony. The blonde was playing with the bowl in his hands as he walked, and smiled as he flipped it up into the air for it to land on his head.

His walking soon turned into a jog as he looked around the village, and saw some more of the areas around it. He stopped, as a shinobi held his hand up, motioning traffic along. The blonde had to make sure of something, and walked up to him.

"Hey there little guy, can I help you?" The shinobi inquired as he knelt down. "Lose your parents."

Naruto shook his head, and smiled as he held up the map. Showing the kanji for Academy written at the end of the arrow.

"Hmm, The Academy, it's down the main road. The building will have a large stonewall around it, and have a gate. It'll be three hundred paces to the left after exiting the main road, and heading up towards The Mansion." The shinobi answered.

Naruto bowed his head, and smiled.

 _"_ _Weird kid, meh, oh crap horse carriage!_ Hey stop!" The shinobi shouted, only to get nearly trampled.

* * *

Naruto arrived at the steps towards The Hokage Mansion, and looked about. He saw some parents, and their kids practicing in the nearly empty street behind him. Quickly wondering, the blonde soon found himself walking where the shinobi from earlier had directed him.

There he saw the beautiful building, modeled almost like The Hokage Mansion, but was slightly larger. The blue eyed boy slowly walked towards it, and found himself alone. He looked at the sun, and found that he was still a half hour early.

So, sighing, the blonde took a seat against the wall while moving his qin out from behind him. Slowly, he began to play it, pecking at the strings.

 _"_ _Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti, do, do, do, mi, fa, so, ti, la, ti, la, do, do, la, ti, la, fa, so, ti la."_ Naruto said in his head as he plucked at the strings. _"_ _Do, fa, so la, la, ti, la, do, fa, so, la, la, ti, la, do, fa, so, la, ti."_

 _"_ _River, river, flow. Flow, flow, low. Flow, flow, high. The sun is at down, and the moon is high tonight."_ Naruto song in his head. _"_ _I want a cloud boat, for my family, for my loved ones. Flow on thin water, and sail on rough seas."_

 _"_ _Do, re, mi-fa, sol, la, mi-fa, so, la, ti."_ Naruto plucked the strings as he sung the song in his head. _"_ _I want to be with good fortune, bless me holy Buddha."_

 _"_ _Ti-la-so-fa-mi-re-do."_ Naruto strummed. _"_ _Tonight."_

 _"_ _Do, re, mi-fa-ti, la, la, ti, so, la, ti, la, so, mi, mi, ti, la, so, so-fa-ti, re, do."_ Naruto sung in his head as he plucked the strings. _"_ _May the sun rise to the east tomorrow."_

The blonde plucked a couple more strings, before finally finishing the music. He, looked at the qin, and smiled as he tightens his grip on it.

* * *

 _"_ _Naruto, do you want to know why music was invented?"_

* * *

A young child sat in his seat as he looked at Nyodai, he was playing his qin a little and smiled while nodding. The young nun got up, and slowly plucked a few strings with him.

"Music is meant to encompass feelings that aren't conveyed through voice, nor emotion. It's feelings from the deep inner soul and heart. The best music, is the moment you feel, and the worse is that which your try to force into a stream." Nyodai explained as she plucked some the strings with him.

"The qin is interesting, the usual last note on a zither…which is another type of qin, is ti." Nyodai said plucking the last, and thickest string on Naruto's qin. "But, what I'm plucking at here is the first string, Do, which makes it sound heavy and silent."

Naruto nodded, and plucked the string a couple of times. "Daaa."

"That's right, Do, now the next string is Re, which is the second thickest on the qin." Naruto nodded as he plucked the string a couple of times.

"Raaa" Naruto struggled to say, his throat slightly hurting.

"You don't have to pronounce it with your voice Naruto, don't hurt yourself. Instead, pronounce it within your heart." Nyodai took the qin slowly out of his hands, before coughing slightly.

"Do, re, re, do, do, re, re, do, do." She sang softly. "The-next-string-is-a-little-string-called-mi."

"Do, re, mi, mi, re, do, re, mi, do, re, mi, do, mi, re, do." She continued. "The next string is a little bird; she whistles as Fa."

"Do, re, mi, fa, fa, mi, re, do, re, fa, re, fa, do, mi, fa, do, re, mi, fa, do, re, do." She smiled as she sung. "The other little bird doesn't care, so it went so?"

"Do, re, mi, fa, so, so, fa, mi, re, do, re, mi, fa so, so, re, so, re, fa, so, fa, so, fa, so, do." The nun continued as she plucked a few more strings each time. "Another little bird called La, sung with her voice."

"Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, la, so, fa, mi, re, do, re, la, re, la, do, so, so, la, do, re, mi, mi, fa, so, la, la, mi, la, do." The nun continued. "The last little bird is called ti, it offers tea."

"Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, ti la, so, mi, re, do, re, ti, la, ti, fa, ti, do, ti, fa, ti, la, so, ti, do, re, mi, do, re, mi, la, ti, fa, ti, do?" The nun jokingly questioned in the end, while she stopped playing. "That's the brothers and sisters Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti. Family."

Naruto smiled, as he bounced his head around, repeating the words the best the four-year-old could.

"Want to give it a go, Naruto?"

The blonde nodded as he clutched qin, and began playing.

* * *

 _"Good job Naruto."_

* * *

The time had come, finally, other children and their family began arriving. Naruto had been lost in a memory that time had flown by, and he looked up at the growing crowd. He got up, and walked over towards the crowd, before seeing three men walk out from The Academy.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, children. Let's all settle down here, and give your attention to The Headmaster, Yugi." One of the men stated as they crossed their arms.

The crowd immediately fell silent, and watched as the man stepped forward.

"First off, I would like to welcome you, and your children to The Academy Grounds. Here, and now is where the path towards being a Shinobi begins. This ceremony is to inform, while excite our new prospects into this path." Yugi spoke as he walked around. "After I'm done talking, please either follow Mizuki, or Iruka."

"You are all here, for one of three reasons, and your parents here can attest to these reasons. You either are from a Shinobi family, and are looking to become the next generation inside said family. You are talented in some form or fashion that one of our shinobi saw you, and requested your enrollment. Some are here from noble families seeking more honor and fame inside Konoha." Yugi told everyone as he walked back and forth. "You, the children however, moving forward from today are as equal as ants are in a colony."

"There are no special treatments here, there are no shortcuts to becoming what we will train you to begin, and there is no try. In the life of a Shinobi, it's do, or don't. If for some reason you are afraid now, and wish to leave we will consider your recommendations invalid." Yugi continued. "In which case, our lifestyle will be blocked from your being."

Several parents, and some children took a step back from this.

"I will not lie to you; the first year here is not hard at all. It's rather like kindergarten in civilian schools. If you have displayed talent without general knowledge, we will elevate you to where you are needed. If you are willing to learn, you _will_ succeed." Yugi explained as he stopped in the middle of the crowd. "The second year here, is a hazing."

Some more parents clutched their children.

"You will be expected to fight your fellow classmates, you will bloody your fellow classmates, you will be broken by your fellow classmates. However, if you remain true to your will, you _will_ continue forward. After which, half way through the year we will start teaching you how to utilize chakra." Yugi said, before he saw a parent raise their hand, obviously civilian.

"Why half way through, why not at the beginning?" The parent inquired.

"Not a bad question, it's perfectly fair to question the methods we induce. You're are their parent, but a undisciplined body is a weak body, and chakra requires discipline in both mind and body. If we allowed your children full use of their chakra, without their bodies being ready they'd tear themselves apart." Yugi explained as he folded both arms behind his back. "The _hazing_ in reality is to see those who will be of great discipline, who will hold true to their convictions, because chakra requires a willpower in itself for use."

No one else talked.

"Now, the third year is basic Shinobi history, lifestyle, tools, and jutsu. In that year, the challenge goes from the physical, to the mental. You will be expected to recite The Thirty-Two Laws of Shinobi, you will learn why we are here, you will learn how we eat and sleep properly. After which, if you are still here, we will teach basic tools like the kunai, wire, and shuriken along with your first jutsu." Yugi says as he looks down at some of the children. "You will also, in order to fit the part, take upon yourselves to find a crafting job inside the village…there you will learn from a villager a trade."

"Why should we learn a trade, aren't we here to learn to fight for Konoha?" A child inquired as he crossed his arms. "Seems like a waste of time sir."

"Ignorance is thinking that the slowest plan, is the worse plan. If you only know how to fight, and are caught in the situation where you must be someone else…how will you become that someone? Taking on a trade not only allows your flexibility in our line of work, but allows you conceal yourselves. No one, and I mean none ever expect ole Gamaru the wooden craftsmen to take down an official." Yugi said to the child. "If you ever been to The Artisan's Quarter, you'll notice all their crafts…and many that practice them seem weary right?"

The boy that questioned him nodded.

"That's because they too, at one time, or still are…Shinobi." Yugi smirked as the boy's widened.

"Now, the fourth year is graduation year if you're capable. If you show a lack in the areas that we've been training you on, the fourth year is redundantly known as your _safe_ year. Here, you can't be expelled based on a lack in an, but you will be retrained time and time again…each time being more brutal than the last until your finally get it. Failure comes, and happens, when you give up." Yugi sighed as he finished. "Any more questions?"

None spoke.

"If you're willing still, and are ready to take a step forward…do so now. I will walk you into the gates, and you will be escorted around by either Iruka, or Mizuki." Yugi stated as he waited at the gate.

Naruto didn't even hesitate, and took a step forward.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto woke up in his bed, it was sunny again today, and it was early in the morning. Slowly rising out of his bed, he stretched, and looked around at his flooring seeing an old chip bag. He picked it up, and crumbled it inside of his hand before tossing it towards a small wooden bucket he used as a trashcan.

 _"_ _Wonder how much coins I got here?"_ Naruto questioned himself as he went over towards a tin jar.

He shook it, hearing the chiming of various coins inside the tin, and smiled. Looks like he was going to have ramen after school today, and that made him content to waking up in wee hours of the sun. Naruto proceeded to dump the coins into his hand, and place them in his pocket.

Getting his paperwork, he put it into a small satchel that he packed over his shoulder, along with his qin. He had been happy to find out he was allowed to take it to The Academy as they had free time in some of the hours for practicing some other skills…or to just relax.

Naruto thought Yugi, The Headmaster was just heckling them in the beginning. It would seem, as if, he would be proven right but The Headmaster did say the first year would be easy.

Quickly putting on an orange shirt, the blonde dusted off his black sweat pants, and walked towards the door. Though, he quickly changed directions to get his sandwiches that he had forgotten to make.

* * *

The blonde was jogging up the steps, and came to the gate. He went into The Courtyard of the Academy, and quickly jogged towards the doors. He wasn't running late, but was early. Quickly opening the door, he walked inside.

He hadn't seen much during the tour a week ago, but he was going to explore the place today. He pressed his feet flat against the ground with each step to hide his presence better, while being swift in his movement.

He looked at the various lockers, and noticed doors with numbers and letters above them. He was about to go upstairs when he heard someone call out to him. "Hey."

Naruto turned around to see the white haired man, Mizuki. He bowed, and looked up at the man.

"What are you doing here, don't you know we don't start accepting paperwork for another thirty minutes." Mizuki scolded Naruto as he crossed his arms. "Well?"

Naruto shrugged, and smiled a little bit. He pointed to his throat, and made an x across it with his index finger. The white haired man looked confused, until Naruto just sighed, before trying to speak.

"Oh, okay, stop." Mizuki said motioning him. "Sorry, not very often we get any _special_ students here."

Naruto glared at him for a moment, before calming down, and smiled. He extended out his hand, to which Mizuki took and began to pull him along.

"Alright kiddo, since you're already in here I'll go ahead and get your paperwork to Yugi. You can wait inside the main hallway, or in one of the rooms in front of the office. Just, don't arrive so early next time." Mizuki warned as he took the satchel.

Naruto watched as the man walked away, and he made himself go into the hallway, and he took a seat by the lockers.

Getting out a sandwich, he begins to slowly eat.

* * *

A half an hour went by, and Naruto finally saw other children come and give their papers. He was still sitting by the lockers. The blonde sighed as he watched several children get escorted into the classes, and he perked up finally when he saw Mizuki.

"Alright Naruto, c'mon, you'll be going to Iruka." Mizuki said as he held out his hand, which Naruto took hastily.

The blonde was led towards the room, and looked at the number and lettering on top of the door. _"_ _Room two-three, A."_

The blonde walked into the room, noticing a few other children, along with the scared nose man from last week. Mizuki looked at the other man, Iruka, and smiled.

"Okay Iruka, we've got your final student for the time being here." Mizuki spoke as he lightly pushed Naruto forward. "He's a _special_ case."

"Hmm, really now, hey there little guy." Iruka replied as he took notice of Naruto. "Come along now, you can take a seat."

Naruto nodded, and walked towards the back of the class. He placed his qin in both of his hands, before holding them up. Iruka head nudged the side, but he just waived him to the back of the class. The blonde walked towards the back, depositing his qin onto the floor gently.

The blonde walked towards an empty in the back, and sat in it.

"Okay, let's see…one…two…" Iruka counted as he pointed towards the children. "Okay, all thirteen of you are here."

Iruka stretched, and walked around to his seat, and sat in it. He looked at all of the children, and smiled.

"Okay, everyone, starting with the first random person I pick by name, I want you to state your name, goal, and age." Iruka instructed as he randomly picked at the name cards. "Understood?"

"Yes sensei!" Every child said, save Naruto, while bowing to their new sensei.

"Okay, first off, Yamanka Ino." Iruka called out, and saw a blonde blue eyed girl stand up.

"Mind name is Yamanaka Ino, I'm heiress to The Yamanka Clan, and my dream is one day open my own flower shop inside of Konoha and work along with my father. My goal here is to make friends as I become Kunoichi." Ino said with a boisterous tone, pride evident.

"Very good dreams, and very good goals. Friends here will one day save your life; you may take a seat." Iruka instructed as he crossed his arms with a gentle smile lacing his lips. "Next up…Akamichi Chouji."

"I'm Chouji, I'm heir to The Akamichi Clan, and um…I want to become a Shinobi like my father." Chouji said while placing his fist into his palm. "I want to learn all sorts of cool things here!"

"You will learn all sorts of things here Chouji, and I respect your father greatly." Iruka said while nodding his head, to which Chouji bowed.

"Next up, um…Nara Shikamaru." Iruka looked around room, noticing no one was speaking. "Nara, Shikamaru."

Naruto looked around to see a boy, around his age, sleeping on the desk. "Na!" Naruto attempted to yell as he pointed towards the boy.

"Oh, thank you, Naruto. Shikamaru Nara this isn't naptime, get up please!" Yelled Iruka, whose voiced made all the children hold their ears.

"Gah!" Shikamaru yelped as he fell off the desk. "What in the seven Dharma!"

"Um Shikamaru, class started." Chouji whispered rather loudly. "We're introducing ourselves."

"Oh…oh!" Shikamaru got up from the ground, and sighed. "Forgive me, I've been up all learning Confucius text."

"Oh really, such an advance subject for a boy who's not Shinobi yet, or even on the road to being one. So tell me about Confucius, what would he do in a room with two people?" Iruka inquired while smirking.

"He would take from them the good and the bad from each other, he would learn to acknowledge the good in one and adapt it into himself. While, the other man, a wicked one he would learn to absent himself the bad qualities." Shikamaru answered rather quickly, and with a bored expression.

"Hmm, very good. You do match your profile quite well, lazy, but smart. Comprehensive, but unmotivated, and above all else a natural born genius with no drive." Shikamaru just shrugged. "Yet without care."

"It's not that I don't care, it's that I know I'm already mentally fit to take over my father's position as Clan Head, and I already know I'm more than capable of being out of here in the bare minimal time. So, my goal is to make friends here, that will one day be my squad mates." Shikamaru explained, while taking a seat, and leaning back into his chair.

"Fair enough, okay, next up Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka saw the blonde hair boy stand up, and rubbing his head a little bit, blushing slightly. "It's okay now, tell us."

Naruto walked up towards the desk, before making an x mark with his index finger across his throat. He bowed, before walking back towards his seat. He then clapped both of his hands together, smiling brightly as he formed a horrible looking Tiger Seal from his hands.

"Yo, dude come on, just say it…we ain't got time for charades." A spiky brown haired boy stated. "Seriously, wanna just go already to break."

"Kiba, I don't think he can talk." Ino said as she looked at Naruto, who looked at them before chuckling slightly.

"Well, then they need to put his dumb as-butt back to his parents and have him be taught." Kiba said in a matter-o'-fact like manner. "Seriously, thought, I mean shouldn't you be able to speak to become a Shinobi?"

Kiba kept talking, not noticing a pink haired girl standing behind him. "Seriously, but if he's not able to speak at all…then why is h-gah!""

"Shut up dummy, that's not very nice!" The Pink Haired girl shouted. "Cha!"

"O-ow-ow-ow! Why?!" Kiba accusingly shouted as he got up, dodging another punch from the girl.

"Well, when your dumb butt opens up, you get what's coming to you. Right Shikamaru?" Chouji inquired only to see his friend asleep. "Oh c'mon man, it's been like a few minutes."

 _"_ _I'm not dragging myself into this one."_ Shikamaru thought as he kept his eyes closed, and slightly smirked when he turned away from Chouji in his _sleep_.

"Cha, get back here Kiba!" The Pink Haired girl shouted, with Ino trying to hold her back. "Get off me Ino!"

"C'mon Sakura, calm down!" Ino begged as she slightly dragged by the girl.

Naruto just stood there his mouth hanged slightly open, before seeing the instructor just sigh. The other children were dodging around the others as they got up and made themselves clear of the isle Sakura was chasing Kiba through.

"Help!" Kiba shouted. "Sensei please!"

Iruka chuckled, and looked towards Sakura. "Sakura was it? You get _one_ more good whack."

"Ehhhh?!" Kiba screamed as he doubled his speed. "C'mon sensei have mercy."

"As Chouji said, you should learn to silence your mouth." Kiba grew white as he saw Sakura gaining on him from listening to sensei. "Besides, better start learning to take a punch now anyway."

"He-he-help!" Kiba screamed as he began to jump over desks, before landing in front of Naruto. "Help me dude, please!"

 _"_ _What would…Nyodai do?"_ Naruto inquired upon himself. _"_ _Hmm."_

"Ah, please!" Kiba shouted as Sakura slowly walked towards him. "C'mon on man I'm sorry. I didn't know you actually could speak, I promise I won't badmouth you…for the rest of the year."

 _"_ _Um…"_ Naruto was sweating bullets as he felt very awkward. _"_ _This feels…very strange."_

Sakura stopped in her tracks, before smirking. "Hey sensei, shouldn't Naruto be the one to give him the last punch?"

"Hmm, now that you mention, he is the party that was hurt by Kiba. Only proper, okay, Naruto you get _one_ understand?" Iruka questioned at Naruto, who just looked at him angling his head a little bit.

 _"_ _Uh…"_ Naruto mind went blank for a moment, he had only punched someone one time before, and he was now being encouraged to do it again. _"_ _Nyodai…um…what would she do?"_

"Oh c'mon sensei, please. I have a lump already growing from Sakura, please I'm sorry!" Kiba yelled slightly. "I promise I'm sorry."

Naruto sighed, before looking at Kiba, and bending his middle finger inside thumb. Kiba start to sweat bullets, and expected the blonde to unleash some sort of family Taijutsu on him. He braced for the worst, only to feel a tiny peck on his head.

"Eh?" Kiba looked at the tiny middle finger of Naruto resting against his head. "Uh…"

"Wha-wait, seriously?!" Sakura screamed. "Oh c'mon you could've punched him!"

"Okay, Sakura, calm down. Everyone back to their seats, including you Kiba. Naruto got to hit you _once_ didn't he?" Iruka looked at Kiba, while eluding to something. "Right?"

"Y-yes sensei!" Kiba stood in attention, before he jogged back to his seat.

Naruto himself took a seat, and just sighed in peace. _"_ _Technically I still hit him."_

"Yo, psst!" Kiba tried to get Naruto's attention. "Thanks."

Naruto just waived him off, smiling shyly a little bit. He slightly chuckled.

 _"_ _Maybe this place won't be so bad after all."_

* * *

The blonde was playing his qin outside The Academy, his first day had been met with some rather _interesting_ events. He was currently playing the instrument, holding a tin can out in front of him. A few people came by, before dropping some coins into his can.

He bowed respectfully at him as he continued to play, and stopped when he saw The Hokage walking towards him. The young blonde got up quickly, dusting himself off, before bowing as he was taught Nyodai to do in the face of a person in a upper station.

"Ah, such lovely music, do not worry my boy…I merely came to see what the commotion was." The Hokage said as he took look at the blonde. "Go on, take a seat, keep playing."

Naruto nodded, and sat back down, slowly playing his qin. "I used to play the qin myself when I was young. I played it, and played it for my mother."

"One day, she grew ill, and the next spring she was gone. I found my taste in music melancholy, and didn't play my qin for any other purpose, but to make money." Naruto looked at him, wondering what he was trying to say.

"The art of music, is as your mother said, it's to communicate the unspeakable language of the soul. Naruto, my music became bitter…but tell me Naruto, why aren't you?" The Hokage inquired. "Are you hiding these feelings, or are you sincere with your music?"

Naruto stopped playing, before gripping his fists on the strings he had been playing recently.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you, it wasn't my intention. One day, hopefully, you can forgive me. Nyodai, Naruto, is a special woman. She loved you, because she couldn't have you, and she still loved you even more when she found out you wouldn't be normal." The Hokage solemnly said, before slightly smiling. "I think you should hold your head up high, smile, and continue onwards. I'm sure, you and her, you'll find your way back together one day."

Naruto loosened his grip on the strings, before sighing, a tiny tear slipping from his right eye. _"_ _But, why did you make her leave?"_

"I see she gave her necklace to you, it's unique isn't it?" The Hokage inquired observantly, and smiled at the small jewelry piece on the necklace depicting the Yin-Yang symbol.

Naruto, sighing, gently played with the necklace while nodding his head.

"It is a necklace that was given to her by her own family, her family was from another village. It wasn't a big village, but it was still unique among its culture. Nyodai, before becoming a nun, used to be a singer. She used to play the qin, a lot actually, and the one qin you hold now was hers' at childhood." Naruto eyes snapped open at this. "She became a nun after someone she cared deeply for passed away, are you familiar with that term?"

Naruto nodded, before clasping the qin closer.

"Good then she had taught you very well, but back to the story of Nyodai shall we? She became a Shinobi prior to becoming a nun, in fact she was a Konoha Shinobi. She was a Chunin, having proven herself loyal to Konoha and given the rank after a test. She told me about her familial life, and her decision to learn Ninjustu despite the late age." The Hokage spoke with a soft voice. "Can you guess why?"

Naruto looked at the qin, before more tears fell his eyes. He shook his head, after he was unable to find her reasoning.

"She wanted to protect all that could, children, and her friends. She later retired from the active forces, and got her nun training in The Fire Temple. Which brings us to you Naruto, she cared deeply for you, and the reason I sent her off is because it wasn't out of spite for both of you…it was because she was needed somewhere else. Her abilities, and her skills made her very valuable." The Hokage explained while laying a hand on the boy's back gently. "Do you understand?"

Naruto shook his head, honestly answering The Hokage.

"I can explain it to you this way, as Hokage I swore to protect my village, and her people from any and all threats." The Hokage explained. "If I was to break that oath, and break my own promises to the village then what would that be?"

Naruto shrugged, unable to answer.

"Naruto that is called being a traitor, if I refused to protect you, while protecting someone else…that means I've betrayed you." The Hokage said. "Sometimes, however, duty leaves one with harsh realities. Naruto, I want you to understand this, because this is the very reality you will face."

"You will face hardships, you will face challenges, but as a citizen of Konoha and a future Shinobi you must push past these things. Nyodai, she _will_ always be your caretaker, and she will always love you. You two, like I said, will more than likely meet again." The Hokage said, before smiling. "Did you promise her something?"

Naruto looked at The Hokage, before slightly smiling, it was a sad smile. However, the old man knew he was finally understanding something from it, and patted him on the back.

"Yaaa." Naruto struggled as usual, before getting up and gently laying his qin on the ground.

He pointed a thumb at himself, before putting his hand above his head, and then bowed respectfully to The Hokage before clutching his fists. The old man chuckled, before, getting up and dusting his robe off. He then slowly walked away, before looking back at Naruto.

"If you hold her cherished in your heart, and learn to accept the hardships that will come your way, along with holding the future in the sun for it to grow like sprouting tree. You will go far, until then Naruto…take care, we'll talk again another time." The Hokage to Naruto's amazement jumped on The Academy, before running along its side.

 _"_ _Like a sprouting tree…then I will become a forest!"_ Naruto exclaimed in his head, before picking up his qin, and began dashing home.

* * *

"Ah!" A young boy roared out as he kicked a broad that was held above his head by rope.

Snow had laced the ground, and the sun was dimmed due to winter storm clouds moving in. A boy wearing a blue coat, with a sprouting tree sloppily painted on the back of it. "Ah!" The boy yelled out once more as he hit the wood with his other leg.

When he dropped down, the hood of the jacket came down to reveal a whiskered face. His eyes shined with blazing blue color, and his hair flowed over his shoulders. Unkempt, spiky, and blonde as the evening sun.

 _"_ _I will become a forest, a forest that protects his friends, and family!"_ The boy exclaimed in his head as he jumped back, and clapped both of his hands together.

He could feel his hands tingle, along with his feet, and inside of his mind's eye he saw a faint blue light glowing from them. He smirked, before rushing at a wooden dummy that was near the board, and laying into it with a flurry of boxing like punches, and a couple of front and side kicks thrown in time-to-time.

"Ah!" The blonde screamed out.

 _"_ _I am Uzumaki Naruto, Third Year Academy Student, and I make this vow in my spirit. I will become a forest, I will become a bridge that my friends can cross safely, and ward off the darkness!"_ Naruto's tingling died down, and he smiled.

 _"_ _I swear to never break my word, that is my Nindo…My Ninja Way!"_


	6. Chapter 6

The blonde was currently moving silently through the bushes inside of Konoha's vast forest, he was crouched down as he walked. Making sure to keep out of sight, and shifted his weight on his dominant foot at each step.

Besides him was a man, Ikumo, along with three others. Kojima, Akira, and Mushi.

Ikumo was a man with long brown hair, tied back into a spiked ponytail, his eyes were a dull blue. His unique feature was the large claw-like scar running down his face. His body was slender, and he barely stood maybe five-eight at best.

Kojima was a bright, young, teen who was great trapper. He had dark yellow hair, and had dull brown eyes. He was a little heavyset, but it didn't slow him down when moving with the others.

Akira was the greatest marksmen in the group, as well as the expert hunter. He had black hair, and dark brown eyes. He was thin, and tallest compared to the rest.

Mushi was a former medical Shinobi, turned hunter, he had retired at a late age, and his Chakra system fell shortly afterwards having not practice his old profession in a while. Mushi usually went with Kojima on hunting trips out in the forest.

It was luck that Akira, and Naruto ran into them.

Akira was a resident leather trader in The Artisan's Quarter. He made products varying on the type of leather, and animal skin. The man himself at first refused to teach Naruto, siting the boy's already virtuoso ability on his qin.

However, the man begrudgingly caved, but it was a good thing. He couldn't have had a better student, it wasn't because the boy was unable to speak, he did what most kids his age didn't most of the time. Listen, and the man swore the boy's eyes were sharper than steel.

He was the greatest marksman in Konoha, but in the next three or four years, depending on how much he trains he'd either be his equal, and there was no other way. Though, right now, the eight-year-old under him was currently walking like he taught him.

In the world of hunting, Akira taught Naruto three basic tactics. The Way of the Hawk, The Way of the Snake, and finally The Way of the wolf.

The way of the hawk was simple in design, but hard in practice. The hunter or huntress would stay into the trees, and usually stalk their prey from above. Coming down hard with a knife, or shooting the prey from elevated angle was the advantages of the tactic.

The Snake, emphasized what they were currently doing now, slow but solid movement. The snake tactic was mainly used to slowly encroach upon prey. The silence was key, and usually involved someone making a mid-to-long distance shot with a bow.

Finally, The Way of the wolf emphasized ambush. If there was more than one hunter, one hunter would scare the animal into a panic, making them flee. The other hunter, designated The Alpha, would make the kill.

Naruto, and Akira, during their hunting trips usually went with the latter as it was more along the lines of what he would be doing initially as Shinobi. Ambush, and teamwork were both very key, and so far Akira and Naruto made a great pair.

The two sported yew wood bows, a light but flexible wood, with their arrows being made of oak. Akira often used wooden arrows, since regular steel was usually more expensive than it was worth, and the weight of impact usually breaking the arrow.

Also, Naruto, and Akira strictly while together hunted deer, rabbit, wild boar squirrel, and finally waterfowl. Wolves around Konoha were usually owned by The Inuzuka Clan, and bears were a little big even for Akira, and it wasn't a practical unless the money was directly coming from the kill.

Akira was usually sent to rid vicious animals, and any rabid animals from any local environment. Especially, and for good reasons, The Inuzuka were his most paying clients. As any rabid wolf, could infect their dogs, and their dogs in turn weren't normal themselves since they could use jutsu.

The group of four kept walking, until finally arriving near a river.

"Okay, everyone, stop here for now." Akira commanded as he looked at the ground below his feet.

The blonde shortly following behind Akira, sighed, before setting his bow lazily on his shoulder. He blew a stray blonde hair from his face, before looking at Akira nudging his eye upwards. The grown man in turn looked at Naruto, before watching the blonde walk with his bow as if it was a cane.

"Smartass." Akira quipped as he stretched. "Okay, well Mr. Uzumaki, the greatest hunter of Konoha…won't you point me towards the deer?"

Everyone watched as the blonde pointed upstream, then trailing the river with his finger through the thick woods, and then pointed his thumb down to the ground. Akira smirked, and nodded.

 _"_ _So, he noticed the deer tracks too, not bad kiddo."_ Akira congratulated the boy silently, before his eyes shifted to an alert posture. "Okay Naruto, how far?"

"Oh c'mon Akira, stop troubling the boy, he got lucky on the deer track…they're probably long gone." Kojima spoke as he fixed a dark bandana on top of his head. "Besides, this place would be good to set traps. Say, does your shop make leather from smaller animals?"

"Yes, we take everything but foxes, monkeys, and minks. They're populations are low this time of year, and any kill made on them would risk their breeding habits plus their local populations." Akira answered with detail. "Can you set up traps specifically for the other small critters?"

"That I can do, besides Mushi here needs to go exploring the local woods for any herbs. He's trying to open an herbal remedy shop in The Artisan's Quarter." Kojima told Akira, who only chuckled slightly.

"Kojima, you speak as if I am trying make a fortune on herbs. Many of the herbs I'll find here today will be measly cold remedy ingredients at best. The most valuable grow in the east." Mushi commented as he looked at the river, he had begun to set up a tent.

"Well, so, quick question why hasn't blondie over there said anything?" Kojima inquired as he relaxed on the ground. "I mean, aren't kids supposed to be blabber mouths?"

"He's mute Kojima, can't you tell from his father's interaction?" Mushi question Kojima.

"I'm not the boy's father, I'm his trainer." Akira corrected Mushi. "Oh, and he's quite talkative…and a big smartass from time to time."

Naruto smiled with a big toothy grin laced across his lips, and rubbed the back of his head.

"At least he seems to move like you, so Akira, if you're his trainer than he must be a noble." Mushi pointed out as he raised a finger in the air, before slamming himself down on the ground relaxing.

"Eh, wrong!" Kojima shouted. "I say Shinobi family!"

"Maybe a talented nobody!" Mushi countered as he relaxed more.

"Oi, come now guys, the young man your talking about is here. That's not very nice, and Mushi…you're right on the part that he's talented." Akira stated as he sat next to a tree, and leaned against it.

Naruto sat in the shade of another tree, and smiled at Akira's words, and looked down at his necklace. _"_ _Nyodai…mother, I'm gonna grow into a forest, with many trees."_

* * *

Night soon fell, and Mushi along with Kojima were sleeping in both their respective tents. Naruto was wide awake, having been given watch by Akira, who was currently resting against the tree he had been against earlier.

The blonde sighing, slowly plucked his bow string, before seeing something move in his peripheral. He quickly grabbed an arrow out of his quiver, and turned around. Following the blurring object, it was dodging in and out of bushes.

Naruto took a very deep breath, holding it in, he could hear his own heartbeat race with anticipation. Finally, the blurred object stopped moving, and the boy loosed his grip on the arrow. It soared perfectly, perfectly into the bushes where the blurred thing had stopped.

The blonde heard a loud yell, and recognized it as a wolf. _"_ _Crap."_

Naruto quickly ran over into the bushes, and saw the wolf he had shot. The arrow had managed to strike the wolf in the leg, and had enough force to actually pin the wolf to the ground. Naruto held his hands out, dropping his bow.

The blonde quickly ran over to the large canine, and inspected the wound. The canine was snarling, and tried to snap at Naruto, who quickly backed off. The boy noticed some things about the wolf, it's matted fur, it's bloodshot eyes, and it seem to have excessive amounts drool coming out.

 _"_ _C'mon, just relax."_ The blonde thought as he reached for the arrow, and managed to break it at its tip.

The wolf suddenly lunged at the boy, who was quick enough to bring his forearm up to protect himself. Yelping in pain, Naruto managed kick the wolf off of him, only to have bite on his forearm. The wolf growled, and licked its lips of the fresh blood.

Naruto saw the wolf put itself between him and his bow. The blonde, having no other option got into a fighting stance. He pulled a knife out of his waistband of his sweatpants, and reversed gripped it in his right hand.

The blonde spread his legs out, keeping his hands parallel with his feet. The hand holding the knife was at his side, but his left arm was up, ready to take on another bite if necessary. The wolf lunged once more at Naruto, who managed to sidestepped the beast, and then with a quick thrust slam the knife into the beast's throat.

The warm blood seemed to jetted out of the wound, spilling on the boy's hand as the wolf managed to get the boy on the ground. Naruto struggled against the wolf, kicking it in its abdomen, but it kept going. The blonde gritted his teeth, before twisting the knife.

The wolf yelped in pain, before finally the wolf started to go limp. The blonde under it was breathing heavily, barely kicking the wolf off. Blood stained his clothing, and his arm, his heavy breathing making the blood slowly run down his left arm.

 _"_ _Wait, wait!"_ Naruto checked his arm, and looked at it. _"_ _Okay, no serious damage…whew."_

The blonde pulled his knife from the wolf's neck, before stabbing it in the side of the head. Making sure, very sure, that it wasn't gonna launch itself at him again.

The first time Naruto had ever killed an animal, it had hurt him, but now it was just the nature of the beast.

He wiped the knife on his pants' leg, and quickly walked through the bushes. The blonde quickly ran over to Akira, who was still sleeping. Shaking him, he watched as Akira slowly opened his eyes, before they shot open.

"Fuck!" Akira shouted. "Are you okay, what happened?!"

Naruto put his thumbs, and index fingers together before moving his middle fingers like a mouth. Akira got up, and quickly grabbed his bow, Naruto nodded and walked him towards the wolf.

Coming through the bushes, Akira saw the dead beast, it's mouth stained with fresh blood. Naruto pointed at himself, before pointing at the wolf, and then showed him the knife.

"Not bad kiddo." Akira said as he walked over to the wolf.

Noting its matted fur, and its slightly emancipated state upon further examination, the man looked at Naruto. He saw the bite wound on the boy's left arm, before further examining the wolf. He sighed, before he looked at the blonde.

"Cut it." Akira said as he got up. "Make sure to go to the doctor when we get back in the village tomorrow, doesn't look too diseased, but never know."

Naruto nodded, and walked over to the wolf. He put his hands together, before praying over it. Then he reached down for his knife, and sighed before bringing it down.

It looked like someone was going to get a rather nice leather coat made from wolf.

* * *

A few of days later, Naruto was in The Academy. Currently, he was sitting by a tree, and was reading a book during one of the very few free times they got. He wasn't feeling too well, and was slightly sweating.

He had thrown up last night, and all the while started to feel more sick. He had set himself an appointment at the hospital later on that night to get checked, but currently he felt as if he needed to go now. However, with class in session, he couldn't just up and leave.

Slowly lifting his left arm, he scratched it a little bit, it felt itchy for some reason.

 _"_ _Those pills aren't working."_ Naruto said in his head. _"_ _I feel much worse than I did from the hunting trip…at least I got a good pay check from it."_

Naruto got up, and walked over to the water fountain, and attempted to take few gulps of water in. Finding it slightly difficult, and before long he started to slightly shake. He felt it coming, and ran towards the bathroom, and before long was now hurling any amount of water he had just drunk.

 _"_ _Aww, god, this sucks."_ Naruto thought as he slid down the bathroom stall.

Naruto got up from the stall floor, and slowly walked towards the classroom. He was going to go to Iruka, and tell him that he needed to go to the nurse. Hoping, that at least, they'd be able to help him there. As he walked down the hall, he heard a whisper in his ear.

 _"_ _She never loved you…"_


	7. Chapter 7

The blonde's condition worsened.

After a week, and another failed medication, the boy had collapsed at school. Currently, he was hooked up to a heart monitor, and shared the room with no one as he slept in the bed. He twitched, sometimes groaning, but not speaking or waking up.

He hasn't done that now for two days straight.

Some people visited him, not very many, The Hokage popped in time to time, but didn't stay too long.

"It'll be a miracle if he lives." A doctor outside the door said as he they walked in.

"What about the shots you've just given him, the antibiotics?" Another doctor questioned as he also entered the room.

"He was in the later stages when he was brought in, currently the rabies virus in his bloodstream is slowly making its way towards the blood-brain barrier. If it gets there, then we've lost the battle." The doctor said as he wrote on the chart on the boy's bed, confirming the second full day without consciousness.

"I'm surprised no one caught it earlier." The other doctor commented as they looked at the partially healed bite wound on the boy's arm.

"One of the visitors said he did it during a hunting trip with him a couple of weeks ago, Akira I believe." The doctor said as he crossed his arms.

"He should've brought him here his self, do you think that he purposely left Uzumaki to rot from the disease, you know, because of _it_?" The other doctor looked at his peer.

"I don't wish to answer that." The doctor answered as he crossed both arms behind his back." The man sighed.

"Do you think that Uzumaki will survive? Shimazu" The peer continued to question the doctor.

"When Uzumaki was first brought to me as an orphan, a newborn, he had suffered massive trauma. His chakra coils, overloaded, had almost fried themselves completely out. His frail body, was cold from illness. There was a ninety-nine percent chance he would die within that first hour. Then after the first hour, the chances just would go up…it was inescapable." The doctor, Shimazu, said.

"Healers worked without break, interchanging, fearing _it_ would be released after the boy's death. The loss of The Fourth was devastating enough, but the chance of the beast resurrecting was high. A plan was conceived, and we had hoped that _it_ would be desperate enough to survive." Shimazu explained his answer.

"What happened?" the peer questioned as he looked at Shimazu.

* * *

"Eight years ago…"

* * *

"Hurry up!" A younger Shimazu shouted as he was struggling to keep an infant alive.

The infant had tiny strands of blonde hair, and barely had any unbruised skin. The blonde infant was weakly, and miserably trying to cry. The doctors all were stationed around the baby, and finally a white hair man came into the room.

"Lord Jiraiya!" A nurse called as he stepped into the room, the white haired man had a dull expression on his face.

The man looked at the infant, before looking sorrowfully upon its broken body. Finally, the man known as Jiraiya made a few hand seals, and a white light encompassed his hand.

"Ninja Art: Soul Threading Jutsu." The man just silently called as he laid his hand on the boy's chest, before tracing it down his stomach.

The boy howled, and cried as it's body experience more pain. A red burst chakra erupted from his body, before a burst of blue threaded into it. Forming a sort of mesh of blue, and red chakra, before slowly being absorb back into the baby.

The boy's cries continued however, before slowly tapering off.

"Lord Jiraiya, did it work?" The white haired man looked at them, before nodding.

"Thank god, we've truly won then…it's over." The young Shimazu said as he wiped his brow.

"No…" Jiraiya suddenly, and silently said. "No one won anything."

Before the doctors could say anything, the man just turned away from the baby, and slowly began walking out. That's when the heart monitor flat lined, and the doctors were forced to rush in to once again revive the baby.

The doctor soon discovered the child's slightly healed coils had been refried, and saw through his mind's eye that the blonde's chakra system had two chakra signatures inside of its. Each flowing with each other, and mostly around the stomach.

However, the weirdest thing happened, without the doctors performing a single action. The boy's heart began beating once again, and his chakra system began to repair itself.

In the next following days, Shimazu would see the infant slowly heal more and more. However, it would seem whatever miracle or curse, confounded him.

* * *

"A miracle…or a curse yet in effect?"

* * *

"So, why didn't Lord Jiraiya stay?" Shimazu's peer inquired as he had taken a seat during the tale.

"Don't know, depression, or maybe he just came to give the new _one_ a chance and that was all he wanted to do with Uzumaki." Shimazu summarized

"Very unfortunate, but what of him now, we've been sitting here for an hour. Any improvements?" Shimazu sighed at the question.

"If, by some miracle, the same thing that happened eight years ago, happens again…then we'll know tomorrow morning. Until then, Shizune, before you leave the village please draw up some morgue papers." Shimazu ordered as he got up.

Leaving the lone doctor in the room, looking at the child. She sighed, and then slowly got up, but not before taking one last glimpse at the boy slowly breathing on the bed.

* * *

Dark...it was dark, the world in which Naruto looked in from his mind was utter complete darkness. There was no light, there was no sound, there was no feeling. He shuffled, zombielike as he looked about the darkness. Trying to find something, something that wasn't the only thing he could see right now.

The sudden drop of water splashing among the void, made him snap around to see nothing. Naruto, for all his youth and experience in the dark, was truly afraid. He felt cold, he felt tired, and he felt no hope. The disease currently ravaging him would kill him, and it terrified him.

Rabies, he knew it very well, bothering to read up on it prior to hunting with Akira. He learned how long it took, the symptoms, and had hope the doctors would help him. Instead, on the other hand, giving him the wrong medication.

"I don't understand…" Naruto spoke as he wondered. "Why do I have to die?"

"I'll never see Nyodai again, I'll never become the forest I wanted to be, and now I can only talk in my mind. Like it matters anyway, no one is ever truly there for me. How come Akira doesn't invite me to dinner, why does everyone not talk to me anymore?" Naruto continued before finding something burning inside of him.

"Why should I try, and try, and try!" Naruto screamed. "I was born broke; how many times do I have to rebuild myself! Huh?! Better yet, why should I even care about Mother Nyodai, she left me behind!"

"Now, now, I get to rot away!" Naruto sobbed as he finally fell on his knees, tears rolling down his eyes. "Damn…damn it…"

He knelt there, just waiting for whatever was to come next.

 ** _"_** ** _Neh-he-he-he, so, the many forest withers and dies?"_** A deep voice spoke, making the darkness ten times heavier than it had been.

"Whose there, is that you Shinigami?" Naruto inquired as he looked around. "I'm ready, come on, kill me!"

 ** _"_** ** _Oh, now this is a true delicacy. Tell me, little tree, are you suffering?"_** The voice inquired as the darkness rumbled.

"Yes…" Naruto sobbed.

 ** _"_** ** _Do you want to live?"_** The voice continued.

"Yes!" Naruto screamed as he splashed around in the darkness.

 ** _"_** ** _He-he-he-he, you're are interesting. One minute, accepting death, the next fighting against it? Tell me, did you mean all the things you said about the people you know? Are enraged, depressed, all these feelings into melancholia?"_** The voice observed as it chuckled. **_"_** ** _I sense you're afraid of my voice, you're afraid of death, and most of all regretful?"_**

"I regret being born, to whatever person had me, I hope they're in hell." Naruto said as he looked down in the darkness.

 ** _"_** ** _Oh, such strong words for your birth parents, are you angry at them?"_**

"Who wouldn't be angry at the very people who were supposed to care for you, leaving you for dead?" Naruto questioned the voice. "You're a God, and you wouldn't understand would you?!"

 ** _"_** ** _You flatter me boy, I'm not a God, and I am not Izanami. I do know all of your feelings boy, I've suffered them myself. Abandonment is something akin to being lost, would you like to find the light?"_** The voice laughed at the end.

"Yes, please help me!" Naruto screamed as he was desperate to escape death.

 ** _"_** ** _Help you, I may, but you must help yourself frist."_** The voice suddenly changed to a growl.

"What do you mean, what's going on?" Naruto inquired as he watched landscape changed to a forest.

 ** _"_** ** _It comes, on a full moonlit night, ravaged by disease."_** The voice suddenly said before fading away.

The remaining darkness on the ground beckoned to Naruto, who slowly reached down, and took hold of it. Soon a small dagger took form, the dagger looking very similar to the knife he had used to kill the wolf.

That's when Naruto heard the growling behind him, and turned around, only to gasp. The wolf was back; it was bloody as the condition the blonde had left it in. it's howl let loose a wave of energy that seemed to decay the forest landscape back into the darkness Naruto had been in earlier.

"What…is going on?" Naruto said frightened as he took a step back.

There was no reply as the wolf lunged at him, forcing him to take immediate action. The blonde rolled forward, narrowly avoiding the large beast, and managed to get back on his two feet in time to kick the wolf in its snout.

The wolf once again howled, releasing a wave of darkness. The blonde just held the dagger with both of his hands, and yelled as he ran towards the wolf. The wolf snarled, and lunged at him. The blonde managed to sink to his knees, barely in time for the wolf to lunge over.

His blade caught the canine's underbelly, slicing it open.

 ** _"_** ** _Good…very good."_** The voice returned. **_"_** ** _Now, take its heart."_**

The blonde was no longer thinking clearly as he flipped the knife in reverse, and shuffled over to the wolf. His once blue eyes had slowly, and alarmingly become a fiery red. Naruto just looked at the wolf laying on the ground, growling, and snarling.

His white sclera slowly turning a dark charcoal like color.

 ** _"_** ** _Show me your resolve to live, kill that which is killing you. Splay its chest open, feast upon its beating heart!"_** The voice roared out as the blonde raised his blade up.

"How dare it…how dare it threaten my future…" The blonde said as his darken eyes glared at the wolf. "How dare you even touch me, filth."

 ** _"_** ** _Yes, how dare it, this lowly being. Oh, dear Naruto, please splay it open."_** The beast whispered as it slowly took form behind the blonde.

It's large red muzzle laying just above his head.

The wolf's eyes widen as the blonde raised the knife up, before finally bringing it crashing down.

 ** _"_** ** _Yes…very good child. When you awaken from this fever dream, you'll find that I had found you worthy to live. Now, dear Naruto, walk away."_** The voice whispered it's ordered, only to watch as a blonde slowly separated from the original.

 ** _"_** ** _Walk deep into the forest, there, you'll truly be free."_** The other blonde kept walking, living the dark eyed Naruto near the giant demon that hovered just above its shoulder.

"I hate…him." The dark eyed Naruto said as he pointed the finger at the other blonde. "He cares too much…killing makes you known in our world…I wish he'd slaughter them."

The giant demon roared out in laughter, and before snatching the dark eyed blonde up in its maw.

 ** _"_** ** _No darkness can exist without light, and no light can exist without Shadow. Uzumaki, you'll be an interesting creature indeed."_** The fox mused as he chewed on the dark eyed Naruto, feeling the pain from the blonde as it finished.

 ** _"_** ** _I'll consume your darkness for now, bring me sin, and I'll thrive for I am Nine Tails…The Demon Fox of Konoha."_**

* * *

Naruto shot awake in a hospital bed, he was shaking violently as he awoke. He looked at himself in a nearby mirror. Noticing that his face had no blood on it, nor did he have indication of ever being hurt. The blonde looked down at his arm, seeing no bite wound, nor puss that had developed over the last few weeks.

 _"_ _Was it all a dream?"_ Naruto mused as he arose from the bed, barely getting up.

Slowly he stretched, and looked around, before noticing his qin on a chair near him. He remembered that he had been walking, barely dragging himself along, when he fell face first onto the ground just outside the hospital.

Walking over to the chair, he picked up the qin, and sat down. Plucking the strings, the blonde just sat there. He melody began to flood the room, before sighing, and just closing his eyes. When his eyes closed, he could have sworn he heard something down the hall.

But, he didn't care, he just wanted to play his qin.


	8. Chapter 8

Idiotically, he took the test early. As inevitable, he failed it. His fourth year, at the start, had been horrible. He made a habit of trying to communicate with some of his peers, but in the process some things became mistranslated, and now he was in hot water with some of them.

Naruto had also taken more time to practice his martial skills, rather than chakra, thus falling considerably behind in the matter. However, he was a great Taijutsu fighter, just right below Sasuke, who was trained boy from a high standing clan.

However, he did learn a jutsu, the transformation technique.

It was his best, and literally, only technique at the moment. He had a harder time concentrating on the chakra in his pathways due to his inability to voice out what he needed, and react accordingly. Though he struggled through the earlier part of the year, he made headway with the transformation technique.

Currently however he was practicing his Taijutsu, which consisted of the academy basics. Seven Star Fist which was a basic seven form all around art, boxing for a strong offensive with his fists, and finally wingchun for a defensive posture.

The wooden dummy he had was equipped with multiple pegs around its entire base. He would interchange between boxing and wingchun, making sure to punch the dummy to keep it moving, while moving around and blocking the pegs.

As he battled the dummy his necklaced jingled, and his shoulder length hair bounced about. His orange gi, which was torn, flopped about his body. Barely hanging on his upper body, constantly revealing bruising he would get from the dummy if he messed up.

His cerulean eyes shone with a bright passion in them, before finally giving the dummy one hard punch. The dummy spun around fast, forcing him to lightly deflect the pegs that were coming at him, bruising his arms further.

 _"_ _Work through the pain, must become a strong tree!"_ Naruto mentally encouraged himself as he groaned in pain from one of the pegs hitting him in the shoulder. _"_ _I am not going to stand silently in the darkness, I will roar like a fire!"_

Naruto rapidly punched the dummy to get it back spinning, whirling his fists around as if they were windmill blades going in rapid rotation. As the pegs spun, he continued to block, tracking them with his eyes.

 _"_ _I must focus!"_ Naruto screamed mentally as he continued to block. _"_ _Can't let them get me down!"_

Finally, after a few minutes of him rapidly blocking the pegs, one of them slipped through and caught him in the jaw. The impact from the high speed object sent him sprawling to the ground in pain, before tears slipped through his eyes.

 _"_ _I will not cry…I will not bow, and I won't break! I'll become the biggest tree in the forest, so that I may protect the forest, the shadow to the flames!"_ Naruto roared in his head as got up, launching a mix of counters and attacks.

 _"_ _Northern Star, Southern Star, West Star, East Star, Autumn Star, Winter Star, Spring Star!"_ Naruto mentally said as he struck the pegs, and then countering them.

 _"_ _All directions start with a star, seven immortals given to us all!"_ Naruto sang in his head as he switched to The Seven Star Fist.

His movements became erratic, he would block with both forearms, before punching the dummy, and then countering the pegs with front arc kicks from both his legs. He jumped up into the air from his left foot, before turning his body, and delivering a kick onto the dummy whilst in the air.

He landed on all fours, and was breathing hard as sweat rolled down his face, dripping onto the crudely sown gi. He wiped some of the hair trailing the sweat out of his eyes, and just looked at his fists which had begun to slightly bleed.

They didn't hurt much, in fact, it almost felt like a sore muscle.

The blonde sighed as he rolled over, laying on the ground, before he slowed his breathing. Tree leaves of all colors fell around the area, fall was fast approaching, and with it the cold weather. Akira would need some help hunting, and Naruto could pick up some work in some of the areas.

Many people thought because he couldn't make a basic clone he was stupid, but in reality, the blonde was highly intelligent in three things.

Survival.  
Combat.  
Music.

Naruto had begun earning some extra income when he wasn't training by playing music, his qin had worn with age, but still sounded as beautiful the day Nyodai got it for him almost six years ago. He also added two more instruments over the last year, and wasn't exactly horrible at them either.

He had begun practicing with a flute, and a shamisen.

Some nights he would go to local parties, and play, while sometimes during festivals he would play his qin. It netted him some pretty good money, and besides the monthly check he had gotten to pay his rent, he wasn't living too horribly.

His floors were in bad shape, and some of the plumbing needed work, but he had been working on them. Saving money to have his small apartment fixed, and ready for next summer.

However right now he was just trying to relax, and as he laid back some of the bruising.

Finally, after having a rest, he got up. Jogging in place, the blonde reached into his pocket, and grabbed a black cloth. He tied the cloth to his head, before beginning his jog.

He would go around the village walls, twice.

* * *

Naruto dragged himself into his apartment, and sighed as he flopped down on a kitchen chair. He fell out of the chair when the back leg of it broke off, and he just laid on the broken chair. Sighing, he just got up, before breaking the chair apart.

After he did so, he stepped outside, before tossing them over the apartment railing. He sighed as he looked at the moon, tomorrow would be the first day of October. His birth month, and another year of possibly celebrating it alone.

He looked up at the full moon, breathing calmly as he leaned against the railing.

 _"_ _There is no quit, there is no giving up!"_ Naruto reminded himself. _"_ _I'll forge onwards, even if I have to claw my way."_

Naruto gripped his fists, before smiling slightly, he felt a strange bit of happiness.

 _"_ _I can say I've done something many others can't say they did, I've beaten myself to shape, and I've broke my own back to make it work."_ Naruto sighed. _"_ _I'll still have to practice the clone jutsu, but I'll get it done eventually!"_

Naruto felt a slight breeze, he then felt an urge, and went inside the complex and grabbed his keys. He locked the door, and made his way down the steps.

When he made it down the steps he started to jump on one foot up and down, interchanging them at each hop, punching air in front of him.

He began jogging around the village, ending up near Ichiraku, where he decided to pop in, and enjoy a bowl of noodles. He ducked under the flaps, and looked at the father and daughter combo preparing dishes. They had their backs turned, so they didn't know their regular had come in.

"Sorry we're getting ready to cl-Naruto!" Ayame gasped as she turned around to see the blonde. "Been awhile, you okay?"

Naruto nodded, before motioning for a cup of water. Ayame smiled, and got out at the cup before filling it with the liquid the blonde wanted. "So, Naruto, been training hard?"

Naruto nodded, flexing his arms slightly, and having a proud grin plastered across his face. He stretched a little bit, and then grabbed the cup before chugging it down quickly. Ayame looked at him, smiling slightly, before going to her father.

She got near his ear, and whispered. "Take this one out of my check, his birthday is soon."

Teuichi, her father, nodded before going to prepare the noodles. Chuckling a little bit along the way, before noticing the warm smile on the blonde's face.

"So, Naruto, you graduated yet?" Naruto shook his head, his smile replaced with a frown.

He clapped his hands together, before separating them to similar fists, but his left fists had his index finger up, before sighing. Rolling both of his hands around, before pointing towards the clock, and then gripping his head in a over exaggerated fashion.

"That bad uh?" Ayame replied as she smelled the noodles being put into the kettle.

"Well, Naruto keep at it, you'll get it. I've seen you come in here for the last few years, each time you do I have to take a double take because you're growing strong." Ayame encouraged as she patted the boy's head. "Did ya know, my dad used to be a shinobi as well."

Naruto eyes widened a little bit, before smiling, and putting his elbows on the counter.

"You want to know the story huh, well…okay." Ayame said as she took a seat from behind the counter.

"My father was a Chunin when he retired from being a shinobi. He was on a mission one day when he badly injured his back, it wasn't from an enemy shinobi, but an accident from over excreting himself in the field. My father was assigned to spy on enemy formations in the years before the third world war, and actually was The Fourth's Academy Instructor." Naruto eyes bugged out. "Yeah…you see; it gets interesting a little to."

"My father met a foreign Kunoichi after dragging himself for almost three days, and it turned out she had deserted her small village after her family died. My father later married her after three years of courting her, and getting her to say yes. Nine months later, pop, I came out."

Naruto's head tilted as if he didn't get what Ayame had said. Pursing his lips, he smiled, before smirking.

"What's the smirk for?" Ayame said as he chuckled slightly.

That's when she heard Naruto make popping noises with his mouth, before she herself caught and chuckled along with him.

The sudden aroma of noodles caught both of their attention, before she saw her dad take a seat beside them, and sorted out the bowls he had been carrying. Ayame noticed that she had a bowl in front of her, before he smiled.

"Allow me to give the more detailed story Naruto." Teuichi said as he began to think back to his youth.

* * *

"I was sent on an intelligence mission inside of Takigakure."

* * *

"Koga, we need to go move in closer." A younger Teuichi said as he, and his friend crouched down.

"Teuichi, we were hired to spy on Kumogakure, not fight them. I can easily guess their numbers from here." Koga argued silently as they moved closer, before Teuichi ducked behind a tree.

They both watched as several shinobi dressed in full battle gear jumped over them. "Patrols, be careful, Lord Hokage needs to know if Taki is going to help Kumo, or fight them. I'll be able to tell if we get a little closer."

"If we get any closer, you might as well be kissing them!" Koga hissed in a whisper as he dashed behind a tree.

"Just twenty more feet…that's all, and I'll be able to tell." Teuichi whispered back as he dashed behind a tree as well. Teuichi got an eye on the enemy.

Three platoons of Kumo shinobi, each containing three squads each, and they looked as though they were preparing for an invasion. Closing his eyes, Teuichi could count the small little flames in his vision, every one of them blue, and he began to count out any extra signatures.

"Teuichi…Teuichi!" Koga hissed as he made the young man open his eyes.

"What?!" Teuichi said silently in anger, he had managed to count almost every one of them, and some were even hidden in the tree line.

"Stop using The Kagura Eye Technique so long, you'll drain your reserves." Koga silently ordered as he looked over his shoulder, and saw no one.

"I know…I know, but I'm a sensor, it's my bread and butter." Teuichi replied as he went to close his eyes again.

"Yeah, and chakra is your fuckin lifeline idiot." Koga cursed as he looked around, keeping his hand on the sword he had equipped on his back armor.

Teuichi closed his eyes once more, and began scanning over the area again. He felt a large chakra signature, before he opened his eyes. "Jinchuuriki."

Koga eyes widened considerably, before his face hardened. "We can try to assassinate it, killing it will considerably cripple their power, and Taki's if they're fighting."

"Yes, we could _try_ , but feeling the chakra, it had to be The Four Tails, we'd be slaughtered before ever emerging out of the bush." Teuichi replied as he looked at Koga.

"Okay, so what now?" Koga inquired as he gripped the sword.

"E.A.O, let's go." Teuichi ordered as he backed away from the tree.

"Okay, le-crap." Koga stopped as he looked up to see a shinobi looking down on them, he wore a kumo headband, and had a smirk laced across his lips.

"Fucking run!" Teuichi yelled as he dashed, making Koga run as well.

The two dashed into the trees, Teuichi kept his eyes closed as he used his technique to track enemy movement behind them. The duo kept dashing through the trees, before coming to a river, where Koga began swimming.

"Come on man!" Koga screamed as he dived under the water.

Teuichi did the same thing, but as he exited the river an arrow nearly got him in the head. "Go, go!"

Teuichi closed his eyes again, making sure none were following them, and as he began to fall behind Koga he slipped on a wet branch. The slip made him go into the air at an angle, and smack his back against an oak tree,

Teuichi spat some blood up as he fell to the ground, struggling to breath from the impact, but as he laid there he saw two enemy shinobi dash above him. Silently praying, he thanked the gods they passed over him. Slowly breathing, he tried to get up, only to collapse against the tree again.

"Oh no…no, no." Teuichi repeated as he tried to get back up. "I don't think I broke, but I think I'm too injure-ag!"

He bit his tongue to keep from screaming in pain as he almost got up, but fell back against a tree.

* * *

 _"_ _I would try to crawl for three days…but then a miracle happened."_

* * *

Teuichi was breathing hard, when he heard someone drop behind him, and he clenched his eyes. "Make it quick..."

"Why would I do that, aren't Konoha allies?" The female voice caught his attention, he looked to see a blonde haired Kunoichi standing over him.

She had brown eyes, and wore leather armor over her sleeveless yukata. She had a bow on her back, and quiver around her left hip, she offered her hand.

Teuichi struggled as he took it, but managed to get up. "Thank you, where you from?"

"Formally I'm a Akahana Kunoichi, but Akahana just got annihilated by Iwagakure." She said as she turned her gaze to look at the tree line.

"Iwagakure is in this war too?" Teuichi gasped in his question, realizing the implications.

"Yeah, it seems like Konoha going into war once more is inevitable." She sighed as he put his arm around her neck, and began to help him walk.

"What's your name?" Teuichi asked as he breathed hard.

"Taeyang, I have few friends in Taki that own an inn nearby." She told Teuichi as she looked around. "Your name?"

"I'm Teuichi Ichiraku." He said with a smile.

* * *

 _"_ _And, that's pretty much of the gist of it."_

* * *

Naruto was frowning at the end of Teuichi's tale, he was engrossed into it, but smiled when he realized that the man had a warm smile on his face as he sipped on the broth in the noodle bowl. Naruto looked at them, before looking at Ayame.

He pointed at his eyes, before holding two fingers up, and then looked around before holding three up. Ayame visually tensed slightly, before Teuichi took notice. He sighed, before smiling a sad smile.

"Taeyang died during The Nine Tails assault on the village, she died protecting a group of children."


	9. Chapter 9

Naruto punched against a tree, growling out in pain as his right knuckle busted against the bark. He had failed once again, the second time around, because of the damnable clone jutsu. He hated that jutsu, he had gotten up to making two clones, but his third clone looked something like drained meat.

Pale, ghost white, and looking totally nothing like Naruto.

The ten year old yelped slightly as he punched a tree especially hard.

Winter had rolled into the area, snow landed heavy against the ground as Naruto stayed outside practicing. He had a few bandages across his face, all the results of Sasuke, who had thrashed him in a spar. The blonde felt like he had fallen behind everyone, he didn't know why, but he felt as if he had hit a wall.

Now just hitting the tree with his left hand, he just felt weak as he thought about the thrashing and subsequent graduation of the others he had felt and witness. Suddenly, he heard shuffling in the snow, and looked at a white haired man that had entered the area.

Mizuki.

"Taking it pretty hard eh?" Mizuki inquired as he crossed his arms, before sighing. "You keep doing this you'll be unable to form hand seals."

Naruto shrugged, before going back towards the tree, which had some missing bits of bark on it. Mizuki just sighed, before walking over to him, and grabbed his fist as he threw back to strike another blow against the tree.

"Naruto, don't punish yourself for failure, learn from it." Mizuki said, before smiling. "I couldn't do the clone jutsu myself for a while ya know."

Naruto looked at Mizuki, before sighing, and rested his arms to a relaxed demeanor.

"The clone jutsu requires a lot of chakra control, and it's difficult to have that control when you have a mountains worth of chakra. It's a bit of a tradeoff you see, the more chakra you have the more naturally inclined you'll be less to controlling it. However, the less you have, the more inclined you'll be to sparing little to waste." Mizuki explained as he looked at Naruto's bleeding hand before getting a cloth out.

Naruto nodded in understanding, before watching Mizuki slightly grab his hand, and starting wiping the fresh blood off.

"You did great by the way, even Iruka was impressed, he was going to treat you out ya know to some ramen before you ran out." Naruto widened his eyes from the surprise, before smiling slightly. "You see, there's that smile."

"Iruka is overbearing Naruto, if it had been me, you'd actually passed with flying colors. You've known me as good an instructor right?" Naruto nodded at the question. "You trust me?"

Naruto nodded once again.

"Okay, well then. What if I told you that your Taijutsu was better than Sasuke?" Naruto furrowed his brow suspiciously at the white haired man. "I'm being serious, with more refining, you'd easily beat him down."

Naruto sighed, before making some type of karate chops in the air, while he just punched in the air after freeing his hand from Mizuki's grasp.

"Oh, I know, but the thing is about the fancier Taijutsu styles is that they take a lot of energy. They are often more tiring than some of the jutsu you'd use, and require a certain finesse to the application. Naruto, your greatest trump card in hand to hand is your kick boxing that you've been taught as a academy student." Mizuki said as he applied a green aura around Naruto's hand. "Your seven-star fist, and wingchun formulate a very flexible defense and offense. Your main problem is that in your battle with Sasuke, you didn't try to read his movements and react accordingly." Mizuki said as he sighed. "But, all those things can and will be taught with time with your Jonin Instructor."

Naruto nodded, before sighing, he then looked at Mizuki. Using some spit, he made any dried blood wet on his hand, and began to write on the white cloth in his hand. Holding it up, Mizuki smiled a little bit, Naruto wanted another test right there and then.

"Naruto, I can't just give you another test, at least not for two months." The blonde just sighed, before looking at the ground. "However…there is another test."

Naruto perked up at this, and looked at Mizuki. The blonde looked very intrigued by the information Mizuki had given him, and watched the man twiddle his thumbs a little bit.

"I'll have to get permission from The Hokage first, but give me a couple of days, and meet back here okay?" Naruto nodded, a bright smile on his face, that's when he ran up and hugged Mizuki.

The white haired man gave a sort of strange smile, but nonetheless returned the hug.

* * *

Naruto had to reread the paper, twice, then thrice. He was going to perform an advance test, and it weirded him out slightly, but excited him. Mizuki had provided him the location verbally, and even gave Naruto a list of objectives to do on the way there.

His first objective was to count as many Anbu as he saw. Wouldn't be too hard, not for him anyway, for all the years he had been in the world being mute was a double edge sword. Though he could not speak, he could still hear, and due to not being able to voice himself he instead listened intently on many things.

His eyes were also sharp, like that of an eagle, and any slight movement would easily catch his gaze.

His second objective was steal the scroll inside of a room, while disabling any traps along the way. Mizuki had given Naruto a crash course on them the night before, and the blonde had more than impressed.

Finally, all he had to do then, was learn a random jutsu from the scroll. Just like that, he'd pass.

Naruto currently was walking around the village, Mizuki had given him a twenty-four-hour deadline to have it done. The boy was looking around, taking notice of the Anbu's movements during the day. He found that between three and four in the afternoon they Anbu went from a eight to just three.

He figured that this was a sort of break time for them since they were on domestic duties, and the blonde figured that at least nine or elven would be his best bet under the cover of darkness. Naruto right now, was just scoping out the village.

Naruto quickly made his way to the target building, scoping it out, he noticed a chimney at the top of the building. He got out a piece of paper, crudely drawing the path he took from The East Gate, to where he was. He sighed, before smiling.

 _"_ _Eleven o'clock…that's the perfect time to do this."_ Naruto thought as he looked at The Anbu at the roof, before walking away.

* * *

Naruto dashed in between the shadows on the street, wearing an all navy blue shozuku, before finally ducking into an alleyway. He closing his eyes, he sighed as he opened them to look around, before changing his clothing to look normal while putting his shozuku in his backpack.

He had told Mizuki about the time he was going to get the scroll, currently, the instructor was supposed to be waiting on him back at the hide out. It was a couple of miles outside of The East Gate, and was a rather small dwelling.

Naruto walked normally, before coming towards a small gathering of people, and thanked his lucked that they were heading the same direction he was. He noticed a boy about his age, with brown hair, and eyes, made a mental copy of him as they walked.

Waiting on his chance, he slipped away from the group, and into an alleyway. Clapping his hands together, a small bit of smoke erupted around him before dispersing to reveal Naruto minus the whisker marks with brown hair and eyes.

Walking along the alleyways, Naruto made his way towards the other end of the street, meeting another of people that once again was thankfully walking the same way he was supposed to go. Stopping a food stall, he bought an apple, and began to eat.

Acting normal was key, since this was heaviest area he saw that had Anbu almost had on visual lockdown. Looking up at the roofs, and using his peripheral vision like he was taught to, he saw that there was seven Anbu in total spread out over the street.

* * *

 _"_ _Remember…"_

* * *

"Remember class, the art of stealth isn't about just being silent. Blending in with a crowd is like finding camouflage inside of a mud pit. If you're able to pass off as an average person, you'll easily get away with anything." Iruka said as he walked the field.

"Mr. Iruka, how can we blend in?" Sakura inquired as she twiddled her thumbs slightly.

"Simple, I'm going to teach you all the transformation jutsu, and I want you all after learning it to go out and steal something small like an apple." Iruka instructed. "However, if you're caught, I'll hand you detention for a week until you're able to go unnoticed. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir." Sakura said as she sighed.

* * *

"Okay first off, take notice of someone on the street, and look at how they act."

* * *

 _"_ _And copy these characteristics in your normal form, while making a mental copy of them."_ Naruto remembered as he walked the streets towards his target building.

He noticed there was a couple of Anbu hanging about, Naruto looked about keeping silent as his group went towards The Academy, likely towards the apartments by the school. Naruto nodded to himself, before dashing into the shadows, silently.

When he got near total darkness, he covered his eyes with black paint, before redressing the shozuku on himself. Gripping his necklace, and slightly praying for success, he noticed the Anbu following the crowd.

Now was his chance, and he quickly seized it by running over to the building. He reached into the bushes near the front entrance, and pulled out a bow and single arrow with rope attached to it. Something he had done earlier when The Anbu became light presence again, and managed to hide very well.

He couldn't exactly just jump high like he normally would because of the risk of being spotted, so he decided on making a grappling rope. He pulled the bowstring back as he neared the back entrance of the building, and firing at the roof.

The arrow was found true, and struck into the wooden boards on top easily. He quickly ran over to the rope, and hastily climbed it. Much like a squirrel would on top of a wire, and didn't seem to as he finally reached the top.

Dashing quickly, he entered the chimney.

Naruto slid down the chimney, and into a small library. He noticed that there was a lot books, but lots of papers and file work as well. Growing curious he walked silently over towards several folders, before pulling them back.

He found his, and instead of leaving it be like he had should, he opened the flap of shozuku, sticking it into his pocket. Breathing deeply, he stood there for a few minutes, he had never read his file before. Not once, not even since joining the academy,

Maybe, just maybe it had a lot of good things about him.

Naruto bit his tongue slightly, and shook his head as he walked towards the door. He pressed his ear against it, and focused chakra into the orifice. The blonde nodded, and opened the door, and quickly dashed as he remembered what Mizuki had told him to look for inside the building.

Finding a room, matching a similar description, Naruto take a deep breath, before opening the door. When he did, the sight that greeted him was that of a very large scroll, and several other artifacts. Namely a strange, tri-pointed kunai with some sort of seal wrapped around it.

The blonde's mouth however hanged open at the scroll, before he just sighed. He gripped his hands, and closed the door. Perhaps he could find something inside this room to help him out, and then when he couldn't find anything he just cursed inside of his head.

That's when he just threw caution to the wind, and grabbed the scroll to test its weight. He found that it didn't weigh very much. Deactivating his previous transformation, he pulled his shozuku off of himself, and tied it around the scroll.

He then tied the scroll to his back, sweat poured down his face as he did, and when he felt the scroll secure to himself, he began to walk towards the door. However, he stopped, and looked over at the tri-pronged kunai, before smirking.

He grabbed the knife, and made sure to put it into a pouch he had been carrying on his hip. Finding that no one was in the hallway, the blonde quickly opened the door, and began to dash as fast he could with the aid of chakra.

When he dashed outside the hall way, he then heard something he dreaded. "Hey!"

Naruto turned around to see a man in a mask charging at him, the blonde's eyes widened, before he dashed as fast as he could. Not minding the window he was going to smash through, and promptly tumble out off.

 _"_ _That had to alert the rest of them, I have to go now!"_ Naruto mentally screamed as he dashed away from the building as fast as he could.

His blues eyes scanning the area as he saw several shadows jumping over the roof towards him, he then ducked under a building's roof, and into an alleyway. Growing desperate he mentally screamed out what he needed, but never bothered to check behind him as he continued dashing.

The only thing that caught his attention was another him passing him up, followed three more that dashed into different directions. Naruto eyes widened slightly, his perceiving of time slowed down, and he couldn't help but smile. At long last he had formed clones, and they were doing what he needed them to do.

The blonde quickly made his escape, and dashed towards The East Gate, forming more clones along the way. He couldn't believe his luck, and he had the biggest smile on his face as he dashed into the forest.

* * *

"Listen up everyone, almost twenty minutes ago, Uzumaki Naruto had stolen our forbidden scroll. I do not believe Uzumaki is guilty of any crimes, and has been manipulated into taking the scroll. I am telling you right now, no harm is to come to Naruto, you all are to fan out and search the area." The Hokage ordered as he walked around.

"Lord Hokage, that bastard took our kindness for granted!" One man shouted. "We should punish accordingly!"

"Silence! If any harm comes to the child it is, you who will have the punishment! I will settle that matter with Naruto in due time, but as of right now, this is to be classified as an S-rank mission. Our village is in grave danger, even if they aren't after The Nine Tails, they scroll itself contains jutsu powerful enough once learned that could level the village." The Hokage said as he looked over at everyone.

"Make no mistake gentlemen, The Nine Tails incident can very well be repeated as well if we aren't fast enough." A new voice joined in, it was Mizuki, and he slowly walked towards the group. "Naruto's a sweet innocent boy inflicted with the curse of being confounded. Do not blame this upon him, after all, before tonight have ever had a true problem with him?"

"Mizuki is right, we'll need to work together, and save Naruto not arrest him." Iruka said as he voiced himself to be known. "Wasting time wanting a boy harmed won't make a difference if something bad happens."

"Right, now everyone, fan out!" The Hokage shouted.

* * *

Naruto was breathing heavily, he smiled as another Naruto looked at him, holding the scroll they had been passing back and forth. _"_ _So, we can talk like this?"_

 _"_ _Yep, apparently since we're of the same mind, we can talk like this. Pretty weird eh?"_ The clone inquired as it passed the scroll back to Naruto.

 _"_ _Yeah, but…it feels good to finally be able to communicate with someone."_ Naruto commented mentally as he sighed, before staring at the clone.

 _"_ _Where is Mizuki at, he should have been here by now, maybe he's getting our headband!"_ The clone pumped his arm.

 _"_ _Yeah, that's gonna be so cool when I walk into the class next week. I'm gonna also show you off as well, to think just a couple of weeks ago I was falling behind. Looks like I broke down that damn wall!"_ Naruto cheered mentally as he summarized his efforts.

 _"_ _Hey pull the kunai out, and look at it!"_ Naruto did as he was told by the clone, and pulled the kunai he had gotten from the room.

The kunai itself wasn't normal, and for some reason he could feel chakra inside the tag. It felt very similar, but slightly different. Going on a hunch, the blonde flowed chakra into the knife, only feel it sucking away at his chakra.

It made him grunt in pain, and the clone disappear, which made him throw down the kunai which made Naruto slam into the ground next to it. The blonde groaned as he slowly tried to get up, but felt some blood trickle down his lips.

 _"_ _What the…"_ Naruto mentally said as he felt his ribs, trying to see if he broken any of them.

However, he heard the shuffling of bushes, and turned around to see Mizuki and Iruka walk out of them. The blonde smiled, before looking at Mizuki who was smiling behind Iruka. "Naruto!"

The blonde was taken aback by the shout, and looked at Iruka confused. "Have you any idea what you've done, do you realize what you're holding?!"

Naruto nudged his head back, and forth, before smiling at Mizuki and walking over to him while dropping the scroll against the ground. He formed a clone besides him, and the clone nodded at Mizuki holding his hand out.

The white hair man smiled more, before Iruka looked at the exchange, confused. "Oh good job Naruto."

Iruka eyes widened at Mizuki had just said, but watched Naruto disperse the clone.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu eh, that's not bad, it fits your style…demon." Mizuki hissed as he grabbed a kunai, and then tried to slash Naruto.

The blonde eyes widened as he barely dodged a fatal wound, but suffered his cheek being cut open slightly. Jumping backwards, Naruto held his cheek, confused at what had just happened.

"Mizuki…no, you didn't, how could you!" Iruka screamed. "Don't you know some of the Jonin are calling for his head, what the hell is wrong with you!"

"Simple Iruka, I'm tired of this village. They harbor secrets, like that little bastard right there, a Jinchuuriki that shouldn't be allowed to live. Killing him, kills the demon inside of him." Iruka looked at Naruto.

"Naruto, don't listen to Mizuki okay, he's just a little sick in the head." Naruto nodded, before rubbing his cheek, some tears rolled out of his eyes.

"Oh don't listen to him Naruto, he's out of his mind waaah, wahh!" Mizuki screamed as he moved the kunai around in his hand. "I'm not sick in the head unlike you hypocrite, you hated him as much as I did inside the damn academy."

"Mizuki you know damn well why we both, well I, turned a new leaf. Didn't you congratulate him on training so hard back then, look…Mizuki if this is about your family I ca…" Iruka had to dodge the kunai that had gotten thrown at him.

"You don't have that right Iruka, why don't you hold the demon child down, and let me slit his throat." Mizuki said, much to Naruto's horrid astonishment.

"Mizuki what has gotten into you, what's wrong with you, are you not afraid of what The Hokage will do if he finds your saying these things!" Iruka screamed as he got a kunai out.

"No…because, at the end of the night, there won't be a Konoha left." Mizuki said as he takes a glove off his left hand, revealing an intricate seal pattern.

Iruka, and Naruto stood side by side, before moving backwards away from Mizuki. The blonde picked up the scroll along the way, before Mizuki chuckled.

"I thank you for your friendship Iruka, but…tonight The Nine Tails is reborn!"


	10. Chapter 10

Mizuki charged at Iruka full speed, grabbing a second kunai from his pouch. His Chunin peer quickly reacted by pushing Naruto back, making the blonde flop down onto the ground, before grabbing his own kunai.

He began to move with Mizuki, dodging, striking, and deflecting attacks with what appeared to Naruto at lightning speed. The scar nosed Chunin managed to catch Mizuki's right arm, pull upwards on it, making him drop his kunai.

"Gah.." Mizuki growled, and hissed as pain shot through his arm, but he smirked. "Good…Good!"

The white hair man slammed his head into Iruka's, smashing his nose, and making him loosen his grip. The ghostette easily then side kicked Iruka with his left leg, knocking the man backwards a few feet, before he recovered by rolling backwards on the ground.

"Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" Mizuki called as he spun around and threw three shuriken at Iruka which quickly multiplied into twelve.

Naruto eyes widened as he realized that Iruka was still trying to get up off the ground, and quickly formed a hand seal, making three of his clones. They dashed to throw themselves in front of the man, before being dispersed, though Naruto recoiled as he felt something stinging on his body.

He looked at himself, and didn't see anything that had him, but still it made him tense up a bit. Especially since the stinging was coming from his stomach, the bewildered blonde caught the attention of Mizuki.

"Hmph, what's wrong Nine Tails, are you scared?" Mizuki cackled as he slowly bent over, picking up his lost kunai. "Don't worry, I'll give you a very painful awakening!"

Naruto reacted Mizuki charged at him, and stepped backwards. Barely dodging the two kunai that tried to skewer his shoulders, the blonde then gritted his teeth, and jumped backwards. He grabbed his shuriken from the pouch on his left hip, and gave them a toss.

The white haired man chuckled as he easily deflected them. "You want to know why Sasuke always beats you?"

Naruto growled as he tensed up, before watching Mizuki twiddle the kunai in his hands. "You don't seize the moment."

Naruto watched as the man turned around, just in time to slam his left foot back into Iruka's stomach when he tried to jump in and help. The blonde tied the scroll more securely on his back, and then against his better judgement, dropped into his basic academy fighting stance.

"Heh, alright then you mute bastard." Mizuki then turned to Iruka before throwing a kunai into the man's knee. "Stay right there, like a broken dolphin."

Naruto growled, and attempted to step forward, only to have the other kunai whizz by his head. "Teh, teh, careful now, wouldn't want an accident would we?"

Naruto roared out, before charging at Mizuki, and launching his knee at the man's face. The white hair man shook his head, before round-housing Naruto out of the air, and into the cold hard ground when he followed through.

The blonde's body roared out in pain, and screamed for him to move. The Chunin traitor then punt kicked Naruto across the ground, before taking a deep breath of air. "I honestly never had this much pleasure, all those people you killed years ago, and now I can savagely beat you down. This is much better than any village woman."

"Mizuki stop!" Iruka screamed as he attempted to get up, but the pain in his knee kept him from doing so.

"Why don't you…" Mizuki turned around forming hand seals. "Burn away?"

Mizuki took in a large breath of air, but before he could exhale, he felt a searing pain shoulder which made him turn away at the last second and blow his fire into nearby bushes. The white hair man then felt two legs lock around his chest, before feeling the metallic object dig deeper.

"Little bastard!" Mizuki shouted before throwing his head back, and smashing the blonde's nose as well.

Blood splattered across Naruto's face from the impact, and made the blonde dizzy as Mizuki then easily grabbed his arms. Iruka watched helplessly as the blonde was slammed onto the ground, before being picked up by his right leg, and slammed into the ground a couple of more times.

"Screw it, I'm not going to destroy the village, I'm just going to slaughter you." Mizuki said as he pulled the kunai from his shoulder, before raising it up.

"No, get up Naruto!" Iruka screamed as he formed hand seals, before reaching into his pouch as well.

The blonde looked around, before noticing the kunai he had stolen from the same room as the scroll. Growing desperate, the blonde untied the scroll on his back. Reaching deep inside of himself, he pulled out enough chakra to project albeit invisibly onto the kunai.

Iruka finished the hand seals, only to have his eyes widen when Naruto vanished. Mizuki stood there, his kunai slightly poking into the scroll, before he looked around. "What did you do Iruka?"

"I should be asking the same question, but if you so much as move, you're a dead man." Iruka threatened as he finished the hand seals, Mizuki turned his head around, before chuckling. "What's so funny, one large breath from me now and I'll burn you to ash."

"I always thought Naruto followed orders, the good little kid, but looks like he's been a very bad boy." Iruka glanced towards the direction of Naruto, before noticing the kunai the blonde was by.

 _"_ _Fourth Hokage…"_ Iruka thought, before snapping his focus back onto Mizuki. "It's over Mizuki, you've lost."

"Oh, no, I haven't. In fact, go ahead, burn me to cinders." Mizuki chuckled. "Because at the end of the day, I'll be the one watching the village curse this child."

The seal on Mizuki's hand slightly grew as, he turned to face Iruka. "I bet you my life that I can dodge the Fireball Jutsu from here, are you willing to bet your life on that as well?"

"I'm willing to throw down my life to protect my comrades, and students. Uzumaki Naruto isn't some demon, he's not the reborn Nine Tails. He's a boy with a confounded mouth, and you dare mock him constantly throughout this fight. So yes I'm willing to throw my life on the line, because Uzumaki Naruto threw himself on the line just a moment ago!" Iruka screamed as he took a deep breath of air.

Mizuki gritted his teeth, before jumping backwards, before feeling the flames almost touch him. Iruka who had saw him not being burnt increased the flames, but watched Mizuki dash to the side.

 _"_ _Iruka…he just called me his comrade…"_ Naruto had his head lowered, before clenching his fists. _"_ _What am I doing, just standing here…sensei can't move and I'm just standing here!"_

"That's it Iruka, time to die!" Mizuki shouted as he rushed towards Iruka, who had ran out of chakra to make the flames with.

 _"_ _What if it was Nyodai, would I just stand there and let her die!"_ Naruto snapped his head up, his blue eyes slowly turned red.

Grabbing the kunai at his feet, he threw it to intersect Mizuki. Projecting his chakra back out, he vanished again, and appeared of Mizuki, before throwing a punch at the surprised man. Mizuki, who had been running like a madman, didn't have time to react felt the full force of the punch as it impacted his face.

"Wraaah!" Mizuki screamed as he felt himself being sent backwards, and actually felt his feet leave the ground.

 _"_ _I'm not going to back down, this is a fight not just for my life, but for Iruka's as well! If he needs to me somehow to revive The Nine Tails the Fourth Hokage killed, then I'm fighting to protect my village, my forest!"_ Naruto screamed mentally, his eyes finally turned fully red, and his once circular pupil became a oval like slit.

His hair began to waive slightly as chakra began to visibly leak out from him, it was small, like a mist. However, it wasn't a blue chakra color like normal, but a light red due to it being so thin. The blonde clenched his fists as he felt something ready to snap.

"You know Naruto, after this, I may just go hunt down that stupid nun that raised you to be human. I'll slaughter her along with your teacher, and maybe Akira and his family. Anyone that showed you kindness, I'll make them suffer either way this goes down Nine Tails." Mizuki coldly stated, before his face broke into a manic grin. "I'll slowly do it too, especially with Nyodai, your fucking whore of an adoptive mother!"

Naruto had enough, and felt something snap inside of himself as the red mist that surrounded himself slowly took the shape of animal. Mizuki looked at it, before the seal on his hand became more elongated. The red mist formed into a transparent visage of a fox, before dispersing around Naruto.

The blonde haired youth stood there, struggling to keep himself from roaring out. Shaking, not out of fear, but with an immeasurable amount of rage. He had threatened his only family, his friends, and he did without a care.

He had to be stopped, no matter the causes, no matter the effort!

"You little bastard!" Mizuki screamed as he got up, before noticing the red eyed Naruto. _"_ _Heh, just little bit more loosening then."_

 _"_ _Come at me!"_ Naruto screamed mentally as he charged.

Naruto launched himself into the air, extending his right leg out, before impacting Mizuki in the chest. The white hair man was surprised by the blonde's speed, but as he flew back, he threw two kunai which were screaming towards Naruto.

The blonde angled his body in the air, but instead of letting them fly by, he dropped the he had in his hand before barely the two that had been thrown at him. _"_ _Seize the moment!"_

Mizuki watched as the blonde landed on the ground, before throwing both of the kunai at him. Mizuki didn't have time to dodge, so he brought both of his forearms up, and let the kunai impact the small metal plates under his jacket.

However, when he let his forearms down, Naruto was dashing towards him. The white hair man felt the blonde's fist smash into his stomach, before feeling him knee his ribcage. Naruto continued his desperate assault, and elbowed him in the face.

 _"_ _More…more more more!"_ Naruto screamed repeatedly inside of his head, before throwing right and left hooks at Mizuki's face.

The blonde spun on his right heel, before side kicking Mizuki across the clearing and into the bushes. Naruto clenched his fists as he felt something tense up inside of him, before feeling a stinging pain on his stomach.

Lifting up his shirt, he noticed a black drawing had appeared.

Mizuki came charging out of the bushes with a rather large shuriken in his hands, before he threw at Naruto. The blonde eyes widened before he jumped into the air, and avoided it. However, while in the air, he couldn't dodge Mizuki's next attack which was him leaping into the air before kicking Naruto back into the ground.

Naruto laid on the ground on the ground in an intense amount of pain, before clutching his fists together, and getting up. His cuts had begun to steam, before slowly closing themselves. "Not finished it yet?"

Naruto looked at Mizuki and pointed a finger at him, before holing his thumbs down, before dropping back into a fighting stance. _"_ _I need one last assault!"_

The two faced down each other, before charging, Naruto formed a hand seal, causing ten more of him to appear. Mizuki eyes widened slightly as he moved to defend himself, only to feel the force of ten punches and kicks impact his body at the same time.

"Gaaah!" Mizuki screamed as he thrown back from the impacts and sent into a tree, where smashed his back against, before falling to the ground.

Naruto saw that Mizuki wasn't moving, before he finally took a deep breath, and slowly felt whatever power he had awaken leave him. The blonde clutched his hands while looking at Mizuki, before running over to Iruka.

"Naruto…you okay?" Iruka inquired as the blonde nodded, before looking at the kunai still stuck in Iruka's knee cap.

The blonde got ahold of the handle and then looked Iruka, who nodded, before the blonde gave it a massive yank. Iruka muffled his scream of pain by holding his left forearm over his mouth, before taking some deep breaths to calm his nerves.

That's when movement caught Iruka's eye, just over Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto get ready, Mizuki isn't down yet."

Naruto snapped around, before noticing the white haired man he thought beaten earlier slowly rise up.

Mizuki got up, before chuckling as the seal now had spread towards his neck. "You know what, both of you aren't going to live after this, but I should tell you. I was gifted a unique power by a certain individual two days ago before I enacted this plan. It's a rental of the real version I'll receive if I complete this mission either way."

Iruka looked at Mizuki before shaking his head, noticing the markings across his arm. "Mizuki, don't be a fool, using more of your chakra while using whatever that is, is making you stronger, but it's also killing you."

"You think I don't know that, but I'm not dying Iruka, quite the opposite actually…I feel more alive now than I did a few minutes ago. I'll be the first to admit it Naruto, you're strong, you just don't seize the moments as often as you should." Mizuki lectured, and then manically began laughing again. "You see however, that in itself isn't a weakness…I was foolish earlier believing you weak. But, rest assured Naruto, it won't happen twice."

"Naruto you need to run, now." Iruka said as he got up against the tree. "I'll hold him off, go find someone, and get back here."

Naruto snapped his head around to look at Iruka, who was struggling to even stand up. He shook his head before closing his eyes, and focusing. Slowly as he did, his whisker marks began to deepen in color, and a new red mist began to flow around him.

Naruto turned around, before growling, and dropping into a fighting stance. _"_ _I swear on my life; I won't let you harm my friends!"_

"I see…you can draw it's power out now, it feels good doesn't it. That instance of a wind up, that pressure, before it's all released? It's truly moments like these that make shinobi show their metal, and it's especially unique to you Nine Tails, how does it feel to be alive again?" Mizuki questioned mockingly before the seal spread into his neck.

"Naruto don't…" Iruka tried to order, but when he tried to take a step forward, he find himself hardly able to move.

The blonde was getting ready to charge when he felt something throb, and his eyes widened. A searing pain overtook his body, making him fall to the ground on his knees. "Naruto!"

"At long last, the poison from my kunai takes effect. Remember when I slashed your face earlier Naruto, I laced it with a powerful paralyzing agent. It's extremely painful after a while, but it takes a few minutes to go into effect." Mizuki explained as he saw Naruto depower, and slowly walked towards him. "Now finally, the dream I sought for so long can come at hand, a dream called revenge."

Mizuki slowly walked towards them, he began to form hand seals, only to turn at the sound of birds. His eyes widen as someone blurred in front of him, before stabbing their lightning covered hand into his chest. Mizuki screamed out, before yelling constantly in pain.

Naruto saw the hand of the attacker sticking out from the man's chest, before he finally lost consciousness.

* * *

Naruto woke up inside of a bed, before looking over inside the room he was in. It was a hospital bed, and next to his bed was another bed. Iruka had been laying in it wide awake, a cast over his knee. "You're awake Naruto?"

Naruto nodded, before feeling of his head, and then stopped as he felt something metallic on it. Naruto looked at the window across the room, seeing his reflection slightly, and noted that a headband now adorns his temple.

"So, you take notice. Naruto, congratulations, you're now a Konoha Shinobi. Just, please, don't fall for something else again. Don't want to lose another leg alright?" Naruto snapped his head towards Iruka who merely chuckled.

"Got'cha." Iruka chuckled as he pointed weakly at Naruto, before sighing.

Naruto looked at Iruka, and smiled while weakly rubbing the back of his head, before he took note of something.

His necklace was missing.


	11. Message

Wow, been a while guys. Okay, well, let me just get this out of the way. No this isn't a cancellation notice, and no Silent Wind (unlike so many of my other stories) isn't dead. It's just been, how you say it, complicated.

I got myself in a corner with the early explosion of The Nine Tails power, and find myself stomped on how to continue.

Not to mention work, which I got a upgrade making more of that sweet mula...at the cost of working around 11 hours a night. But, the money, oh it's worth it. Anyway, back on track.

I promise you all that a new chapter (which will be an extension with a special scene) will be released not this weekend, but Nov 5th. Once again I'm sorry for the such late release, and such LONG updates.

So, the next question I have to ask, and it's quite simple, should I go back and start naming the chapters? (Including newer ones.)

Anyway Blazeraptor54 is away, and Emily cannot play.


End file.
